We asked the Council’s parks department if some notices could be put up to perhaps deter people feeding the animals in The Grove (obviously this applies to birds as well as squirrels) and if the shops selling feed for squirrels or birds could be warned about its impact. We hear that a shop or two in Carshalton High Street are selling squirrel feed and possibly still be selling old bread.We also have concerns with putting up any kind of signage is that it may make the Council look as if it is spoiling peoples enjoyment of the site as many people go to the park to feed the animals, or that we are demonising squirrels based on one incident of biting that has not been formally reported to the Council.  The parks department tell us that they have spoken to the Council’s Corporate Health and Safety team, their advice was that anyone who is bitten, or is the parent of a child that is bitten should report it formally to the Council. In this way the circumstances can be investigated along with any ways of reducing risk. This information can be logged to see if there are a number of incidents or any trends. But with only one incident reported anecdotally it is difficult to either justify putting up signs or know what to put on signs that would not attract adverse comments.  We know that members of the friends’ group have in the past spoken to local shopkeepers about sale of bread etc. and this has been successful in the past. More in a future posting…

A Hungry Squirrel!