This got me mad!

It's about grey squirrels! Some people hate detest them, others tolerate them and some even adore them. I'm one of those that love to see them but except that they could be a nuisance. As an animal lover I hate to see any animal tormented and what I saw today made my blood boil. Walking Jade this morning along the disused Nottingham canal, I came over Gadsby bridge and saw a man throwing sticks up into the branches while his dog, a crossbred lurcher type, was frantically trying to get at something in the tree. As I got nearer the man turned and saw me watching him. He then laughed and mentioned the squirrel on the branch above him. I asked him why he was throwing sticks at the creature, to which he replied ' they are nothing but rats and every last one should be killed'. I was utterly flabbergasted and said that the squirrel had every right to be left alone. He then spouted on about how they kill birds and are nothing but vermin and should be wiped out. So I asked him what he was trying to achieve by throwing sticks at it. 'Well', he said, 'if it fell out of the tree the dog would have a nice dinner'!!! To this I lost my rag and told him in no uncertain terms what a I thought of morons like him. What made it worse was his sickening smile as he said he would continue to try and get the squirrel for his dog. That was it as far as I was concerned. No way was I leaving that spot for him to continue tormenting the poor squirrel and so started taking photos of the squirrel and said I would also take photos of him if he continued. With that, and still laughing, he walked off. I stayed for well over 10 minutes to see if he would return. Thankfully I didn't see him again. In the meantime the squirrel was so traumatised it never moved from it's spot in all the time I was there.  Now all you reading this may disagree with my opinion and feel that the man was right in what he was doing. I have read an article ( click here ) which does indeed confirm what he said about them taking eggs out of the nest and also killing the chicks. But so does Magpies, crows, hawks, ravens, other mammals etc so, should they also be killed??? You must remember that it was man that introduced them to Britain, and yes they can kill birds and yes they can destroy saplings of some trees and yes they have almost wiped out our native red squirrel, but they have also only ever done what other introduced animals, birds and insect had done, adapted to their environment and made this country their home!