Eating grey squirrel burgers could help save red squirrels, says Welsh farmer

Farmer Gareth Wyn Jones said eating grey squirrel meat will help to "protect our red squirrels".

A Welsh farmer has said eating grey squirrel burgers could help preserve red squirrels.

Gareth Wyn Jones defended the use of grey squirrel meat, saying it will help to "protect our red squirrels, they're beautiful, they're in danger".

He continued: "It's causing our red squirrels to be taken out of the equation so every single one of these grey squirrels we're eating is going to give room for the red squirrel."

Gareth will be running the pop-up restaurant Cwtch Kitchen at the Welsh Game Fair on 9 and 10 September and plans to put the burgers on the menu at the event.

Elisa Allen, VP at PETA UK, said killing the animals to eat is "cruel and wrong".

"By promoting shooting and taking grey squirrels out of the equation, we're going to help the reds, but as well we're going to have a tasty meal," he told Good Morning Britain.

"We're going to have a burger that's very healthy, it's going to be very nutritious."

However, Elisa Allen, VP at PETA UK, said killing the animals to eat is "cruel and wrong" and it is "totally unnecessary to kill animals in order to eat them".

"Most of us we love seeing squirrels in trees or at the park, not on a plate," she added.

"More and more I think we're recognising that actually animals are not burgers or sausages, they're living beings who deserve to live.

Red squirrel numbers have been in decline. Credit: PA

"Actually, they don't need to be culled and I think sometimes hunters use that to disguise the fact that they actually like killing these animals. There is a humane solution to every perceived problem - in this instant, there's vaccinations for red squirrels, there's habitat modification."

Red squirrels have undergone one of the most drastic declines of all UK mammals, which is largely due to the introduction of non-native grey squirrels in the early 20th century.

The larger grey squirrels are able to outcompete red squirrels and they also carry the squirrel pox virus, to which they are immune, but which is fatal to reds.

According to the the Woodland Trust, there are an estimated 287,000 red squirrels in Britain, compared to 2.7 million greys. 

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