Eat The Enemy: Invasive Squirrel Introduced As 'Ethical Food' In UK Butcher Shops
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 05.12.08
The Eastern Gray Squirrel, native to the USA, but considered an invasive species in Western Europe, is driving out the native European Red Squirrel.
A prolific and adaptable species, the gray squirrel has been introduced to, and thrives, in several regions of the western United States. It has also been introduced to Britain, where it has spread across the country and has largely displaced the native red squirrel, Sciurus vulgaris. In Ireland, the red squirrel has been almost entirely displaced and there are concerns that the same might happen in Italy.In Europe, the reaction is strong and measured. They are eating the enemy (pictured). Yes, the critter we in the USA call Tree Rat, a profligate potential source of suburban "free-range" meat, is being market hunted for the consumer pot. The Guardian reports:- "The ultimate ethical meal: a grey squirrel...It tastes sweet, like a cross between lamb and duck. And it's selling as fast as butchers can get it."
Apparently hunters are supplying the local butcher with all they can shoot; and they are selling out. (We didn't even know that in Merrie Olde England they still had "game counters" - thinking those had disappeared with the original Sherwood Forest.)
The grey squirrel, the American cousin of Britain's endangered red variety, is flying off the shelves faster than hunters can shoot them, with game butchers struggling to keep up with demand. 'We put it on the shelf and it sells. It can be a dozen squirrels a day - and they all go,' said David Simpson, the director of Kingsley Village shopping centre in Fraddon, Cornwall, whose game counter began selling grey squirrel meat two months ago.As a kid in the Wisconsin north woods, this writer ate squirrel, and can attest to it's fine quality as a natural food. A pan of wild-shot squirrel, however, is quite different from a saute' of the likely attic-nesting, trash-pilfering, birdseed-munching suburbanized invaders of British Cuisine. We are left to wonder what Beatrix Potter would have said to Curry of Squirrel Nutkin?
And, there is the difficult matter of creating a market that becomes powerful enough to eventually drive consumer choice toward other wildlife - regardless that it be an invasive species only being chewed up at present.
In the USA, market hunting of animals remains against the law, for good reason. Passenger pigeon anyone? Wild bison? In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it took naturalists and hunters, working together for many years, to form the first environmental movement and with their combined power, to convince Federal and State governments to ban the practice of market hunting outright. New England learned the hard way that it inevitably leads to extirpation once commercial interests take over the market.
Unless one is starving, having to clean one's own quarry tends to limit the amount one consumes, and keep ecosystems in balance. But market hunting, sorry to say, is UnTreeHugger.
One more bit to keep things in perspective. In the USA, most anyone except, hopefully the real nut-jobs, can own a squirrel gun and have access to public hunting grounds. Whereas, in the UK one needs not only a hunting license but also the privilege of being a landed gentry gamekeeper and access to a firearm. Different on the other side of the pond.
Via::The Guardian Image credit::AtomicPop, "it was only a matter of time before they mounted a resistance…"
A fairly humorous article about black squirrels in the UK.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=561946&in_page_id=1770&ito=1490
Squirrel Nutkin was a RED squirrel
The difference for Europe is that the grey squirrel is an alien invasive species which will distort the local ecosystems and potentially cause the extinction of the red squirrel. In that case, the aggressive hunting of grey squirrels seems appropriate.
I do agree that the diet of the urbanized squirrel renders it suspect for human consumption - more on the basis of disease and heavy metal contamination, than on taste grounds.
Trapping squirrels in urban areas might be more appropriate.
The use of squirrel meat for pet food might be another way to appropriately recycle the cull.
As an American living in the UK, I was amazed at the Game Butchers, but after living with them for a few years, they are a great thing!
Besides that difference, all of the 'wild' land in the UK is actually very carefully managed. The larger game animals - boar and deer - are farmed in ways that are not unlike free-range pigs and cows. The smaller game animals (and many game birds) are not farmed in the traditional sense, but are carefully managed. The push to eat Grey Squirrel is a good plan, especially since the population has to be controlled to try to prevent the spread of greys and the extinction of Red Squirrels. Here in Oxford, I have never seen a red, but we have tons of greys! I need to check at the local game butcher to see if they have started to carry squirrels.
Gray squirrels can be a nuisance in the US, too. "Tree rats" don't have any form of population control (except the automobile) because their predators-- cats and dogs-- are subject to leash laws and/or sent directly to animal shelters following abandonment. I agree that it's better for the cats and the dogs, but the squirrels are out of control. Coyotes and hawks might eat squirrels, but not in the middle of a town.
FYI, the Joy of Cooking claims that only black and grey squirrels can be eaten; red squirrels are claimed to have an unpleasant taste.
In Vancouver, black squirrels and norway rats have mated, creating a hybrid known as "squirrats".
=== author's response follows ===
I've eaten many pine (red) squirrels. Because they eat pine seeds they may have a piney taste, like the Greek wind Retsina. Not bad just different. JL
That is just the cutest picture.
They're called 'Tree Rats' for a reason.
Suburban squirrels? Who knows where they have been?
That said, does anyone know any tasty dishes made from European Starlings and European House Sparrows?
Brilliant initiatvie! Eat the squirrels that eat the accorns - save more trees. They'll be a furry devil in my frying pan before soon!!
I'm British and live in England.
Firstly, it isn't news that the grey is pushing out the red - it's been common knowledge for as long as I can remember.
Secondly, considering the number of greys in Britain, what do they intend doing if this is a legitimate form of erradication - replace everything on the school dinner menu with roasted squirrel for a couple of years?
Thirdly, I have never heard of anyone in this country ever eating squirrel meat. This is probably some tiny, tiny, TINY shop in some out of the way, tiny, tiny, TINY village that has hit upon a tiny, tiny, TINY bit of newsworthiness by selling one or two squirrels after a bet in the local pub after a few too many pints of scrumpy!
Apart from anything, the British do live up to their reputation for being reserved, not to mention animal lovers, so I can't see anyone anywhere buying dozens of dead squirrels on a regular basis unless they have some weird hobby and really shouldn't be allowed out unsupervised!
I very much doubt Asda, Tescos, or Sainsburys - our major supuermarket chains - will be stocking up on these furry little creatures any time soon!
Steve N. Lee
author of eco-blog http://www.lionsledbysheep.com
"Tree rats" (squirrels), "Flying rats" (pigeons) and "rats" (rats) have one thing in common; they have adapted very well to the environment that has been created for them by the ultimate invasive species which has already displaced nearly every other species on Earth, the "Bipedal Rat"; that's you. Stop fouling-up your cities and eradicating natural predators.
Why is shooting and eating squirrels "un-Treehugger"? Because that was the necessary mealymouthed disclaimer to pretend that Treehugger wasn't just reporting some meaningless, inconsequential drivel and worse; perpetuating the deliberately derogative and dismissive moniker "tree rat" in order to devalue and objectify a species just doing its best to survive in the smoking hole that we're fast making of their world. I guarantee that more squirrels are run-over by cars in the UK than will ever be shot and eaten and anybody who eats "market" meat of any kind yet pretends to be disturbed by the notion of squirrel meat really needs to start thinking about ethical behavior.
Gary
My cat has been doing this for years. he's ahead of his time.
Market hunting's 'un-treehugger' because it can lead to extinction. Fine - great - fantastic! That's the whole point! The grey is an invasive species that has nearly wiped out the native red. And it's tasty. :)
I don't think that this is un-treehugger. It's an invasive species and it's being eaten, so what is wrong with it? I don't see how this could lead to slaughter of other wildlife, squirrels are the problem not other wildlife, eating pheasants and other wild foods is nothing new.
Steven N. Lee: It may surprise you to learn this, but America is also host to a native Red Squirrel, which is also being driven out by the grey squirrel, aided by suburban and urban sprawl; grey squirrels can adapt well to suburbia and the big city, red squirrels can't. I'm applaud any country's efforts to eradicate invasive species, I just don't know if it's safe to eat urban and suburban squirrels. Wild squirrels, on the other hand...
I hate grey squirrels, btw.
Brennan: Squirrats are a product of your fevered imagination. We have black squirrels here in the Northeast, as well; they're just a darker variant of grey.
John Laumer: "I've eaten many pine (red) squirrels. Because they eat pine seeds they may have a piney taste, like the Greek wind Retsina. Not bad just different. JL"
I admire your honesty. At least you'll admit to being a $#%&@.
I don't normally eat meat, but I might eat a squirrel just out of spite. The squirrels in my neighborhood fatten themselves on everyone's fine, homegrown garden produce and must taste FANTASTIC!
That is cool.
But has anyone seen Mono Titi?
We have lots of grey squirrels where i live. Some try not to run them over,others do not care. There are just so many. I saw a recipe for squirrel soup in the town newsletter one time.
Well Steve N. Lee, what rock have you been hiding under?
Grey Squirrel is served in many a top restaurant in the UK under the name of Flightless Pheasant .
I can't believe you have never seen Fergus Drennan or Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall cook and eat Grey Squirrels.