article_snippet.sent: Numbers of Native reds, popularly illustrated in the Beatrix Potter Squirrel Nutkin books, have been rapidly dwindling thanks in large part to the squirrel pox virus carried by greys.
article_snippet.sent: Disease, habitat loss and competition for food from non-native grey squirrels have been blamed for the decline in reds.
article_snippet.sent: Grey squirrels have been blamed for carrying diseases which have endangered the population of red squirrels.
article_snippet.sent: The species was almost wiped out at the Formby National Trust Reserve when there was a squirrel pox virus outbreak in 2008 and the population declined by over 80 per cent.
article_snippet.sent: Grey squirrels are also more adventurous and happier foraging on the ground, whereas red squirrels spend most of Grey squirrels lives high up in conifer trees and Grey squirrels diet is less varied.
article_snippet.sent: Greys became known as 'vermin' in the 1920s and 1930s when Greys large numbers started to cause significant damage to commercial forestry and beech trees.
article_snippet.sent: A law was passed in 1938 banning further importation of these creatures, and in following years various methods were tried without success to control grey squirrels.
article_snippet.sent: This coincided with low red squirrel numbers after the red population was decimated between 1900 and 1920 by the parapox virus, similar to myxomatosis in rabbits.
highlights_snippet.sent: Numbers of native red squirrels have been rapidly dwindling in the country .
  