Blog: Fertility control research

2023-10-02 | Lottery boost to the grey squirrel fertility control programme
During Red Squirrel Awareness Week, 02-08 October 2023, the UK Squirrel Accord (UKSA) thanks the Red Squirrel Recovery Network (RSRN) partners for including an important trial in their exciting new project backed by The National Lottery Heritage Fund. UKSA will work with RSRN, the Animal and Plant Health Agency and The University of York on a focused trial to better understand how grey squirrel fertility control can be effectively delivered at a landscape scale....

2022-09-30 | Saving the red squirrel - an update from the field
Funded by the UK Squirrel Accord (UKSA) and supporters, the Animal & Plant Health Agency’s (APHA) Wildlife Team is developing an oral contraceptive and species specific feeding hopper to manage populations of grey squirrels in the UK. This work hopes to reduce the damaging effects they have on native red squirrels, trees and woodland ecosystems. For Red Squirrel Awareness Week 2022, Sarah Beatham provides an update on hopper progress. So a feeder will be developed that delivers a bait containing contraceptives to most grey squirrels, while preventing access by red squirrels and other species....

2022-07-10 | Press Notice: Grey squirrel fertility control research hits key milestone
Oral contraceptives that could significantly reduce grey squirrel populations in the UK are displaying positive results in ongoing research, the UK Squirrel Accord (UKSA) has announced today. UKSA is funding research into a fertility control for grey squirrels that will offer an additional, non-lethal method to manage the population of this species. The resulting oral contraceptive and species-specific feeding hopper will support reductions in grey squirrel numbers to protect red squirrels and trees....

2021-10-25 | Developing a grey squirrel feeder for targeted contraceptive delivery
How can an oral contraceptive be fed to 2.5 million grey squirrels? Research to develop an oral contraceptive for grey squirrels is now entering its fourth year. As these contraceptives may affect other mammals, one of the most important parts of the research is to design a bait hopper that only grey squirrels can feed from. This is a summary by researcher Sarah Beatham on some of the work carried out with Northumberland red squirrel community groups this summer, to test if red squirrels and other animals could be prevented from feeding from the hoppers....

2020-09-19 | Fertility research - news from the field
As a partnership, the UK Squirrel Accord is fundraising for research into an oral contraceptive for grey squirrel management. This research is conducted by the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) and is still achieving results, despite the current pandemic. The project on oral contraceptives for grey squirrel management is currently in its third year. While the pandemic has made things more challenging, it has not prevented an important part of the fieldwork being carried out over the summer....

2019-11-24 | A new hope for grey squirrel management - fertility control research update
The UK Squirrel Accord (UKSA) partnership is fundraising for research into an oral contraceptive to tackle the negative impacts the invasive non-native grey squirrel causes to native red squirrels and broadleaf trees. As thousands of trees are planted during National Tree Week 2019, we celebrate our success towards developing a new method to help protect those trees from grey squirrel bark stripping damage. The research into the immunocontraceptive is being carried out by the well-respected Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA)....