A NATIONAL cull of grey squirrels is to be launched in an attempt to save Scotland’s native red squirrel population from extinction.

The dominance of its aggressive North American cousin, coupled with the spread of a deadly virus, has seen the red squirrel all but wiped out south of the border. Conservation bodies fear that the same could happen in Scotland and are working with the executive on an action plan.

Rhona Brankin, the deputy environment minister, has asked Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) to draw up an action plan aimed at reversing the dramatic decline of the red squirrel population. The SNH document, which will be presented to Brankin within days, will recommend “grey squirrel control” as the key to saving the native reds.

Dr Mel Tomkin, of SNH, said a cull was the only viable solution. “If you got rid of the grey squirrels there would be no problem and we could leave the red population to get on with it,” she said. “If we really want to stop red squirrels from disappearing from Scotland for ever we have to control, or cull, grey squirrels.

“If we continue to stand by and take no action, nature will take its course and the reds will be completely eradicated.”

Grey squirrels have already carried a myxomatosis-like pox virus over the Scottish border, but the disease has not yet spread to the red population, which is numbered at 120,000.

The stronger greys are immune to the disease but infected reds suffer from skin lesions, shivering and fur loss and usually die within 15 days.

Grey squirrels were introduced to Britain in the Victorian era when the North American creatures were hailed as fashionable and exotic additions to the gardens of the wealthy.

Tomkin said the cull would be mainly targeted at areas like Aberdeen and the northeast, Argyll, Loch Lomond and the Highlands, where reds were most under threat from marauding greys. Encroaching English grey squirrels are already being shot on sight by patrols in the Borders.

“Our recommended method of control will be for grey squirrels to be caught and then dispatched as humanely as possible,” she said. “Using bated cages will allow us to release any other species that get caught unharmed.”

The leader of Scotland’s gamekeepers has called on the authorities to go a step further and place a bounty on grey squirrels, claiming this would lead to the eradication of the greys within two years.

Alex Hogg, the group’s chairman, has lobbied both SNH and the executive to launch a system where members of the public could claim cash for the tails of grey squirrels they killed.

“Slapping a bounty on grey squirrels would definitely work,” he said. “Word would get round like wildfire and a reward of £2 or £3 per tail would act as real incentive. I’m sure it would eradicate the grey population in the space of just a couple of years.”

Hogg called on SNH or the executive to fund the scheme and establish collection points across the county.

The squirrel action plan is also likely to see areas of woodland around the country designated as red “strongholds”, sanctuaries where the threatened species could thrive.

However, any cull will be strongly opposed by animal rights activists, who have described the proposal as “ethnic cleansing”.

Advocates for Animals said: “Culling or controlling are simply media friendly terms for slaughter.”

The Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said that it did not support the idea of a cull, but accepted that the executive was entitled to order one. “If a cull is to go ahead we would call for it to be done as humanely and efficiently as possible.”

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