Squirrelly Brits Eat Invasive Species

January 10, 2009 · Print This Article

When I went to London years ago, I remember giggling in front of a display of taxidermied animals at the Natural History Museum. There in front of me was a gray squirrel with the placard next to it calling it a “pest” imported from the Americas. I don’t remember the exact wording but it was very contemptuous. I dismissed it quickly considering after all, they gave North America the RAT.

It’s considering of that experience that I find the New York Times editorial, “Saving a Squirrel by Eating One” so amusing. The gray squirrel is gracing a growing numbers of tables in Britain. Sold in markets, pubs and fine dining restaurants, the demand for that tasty little morsel is keeping hunters busy. In May, Rebecca Onion

asked whether you’d “eat a squirrel for your country?” when addressing the same phenomenon in all of Europe.

The taste for gray squirrel is increased as the species runs the indigenous red squirrel out of their habitat, eats their food and passes along a deadly virus. In order to save the native squirrel, numbers of gray squirrels need to be culled — so you might as well eat ‘em.

Whether it’s a nutty squirrel pâté, squirrel a la Peking duck, or a nice roast, you might want to try some of the fuzzy creature next instance you are in London.

Squirrelly Brits Eat Invasive Species originally arised on Green Daily on Sat, 10 Jan 2009 11:59:00 EST

[Source] Kelly Leahy

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