Fate uncertain for Elvis as he gets tracked down again
SQUIRREL fever gripped a small area of St Sampson’s yesterday afternoon, but the fate of ‘Elvis’ looks far from certain.
Guernsey’s most famous stowaway made his first public appearance on Monday after reaching the island in the back of a Ferryspeed container full of animal feed.
Named Elvis by staff at car dealership Bluechip, who first reported his appearance to the GSPCA, the grey squirrel reappeared yesterday back in the same tree he was spotted in.
11-year-old Cory Dyke, who lives nearby, spotted him in the morning and reported it.
His mum, Sharon, said in an ideal world they would love to see the squirrel return to the UK.
‘But I know they have laws that may prohibit it,’ she said.
‘So I’m really not sure what will happen to him.’
Under Schedule 9 of the UK Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981, it is illegal to release a grey squirrel into the wild or allow one to escape. This means that if one is trapped, it needs to be ‘humanely destroyed’.
With Elvis’s location revealed on social media, the squirrel was attracting a lot of attention, with cars stopping in Grandes Maisons Road to allow kids out to see it.
One islander said they had been in the neighbourhood and so had brought their three kids down.
‘We go to France a lot and the kids see a lot of squirrels and love them,’ she said.
‘I’m hoping he will be rescued and returned to the UK but I’m guessing his fate is a little uncertain.’
A private pest control company, contracted by the States, was on site to put out traps baited with peanut butter and nuts by noon. The States then appealed on social media for islanders not to gather where the squirrel had been sighted as this would hinder the pest controller’s task.
A spokesman said that no decision has been made yet regarding the next steps if the squirrel was safely caught.
‘However, with grey squirrels being classed as an invasive non-native species, every avenue will be explored to try to return the squirrel to a more suitable environment,’ he said.
Scott Bougourd, who lives next to the tree that Elvis has taken up home in, said he had been asked to put his cats indoors while the traps were outside.
‘We’ve had loads of people stopping to see him and our son’s been super excited and looking for him from the windows. Hopefully they can sort out some sort of future for him.’
Hannah Tetlow, lives opposite and said her kids were fascinated by their new neighbour.
‘I would love to keep him as a pet,’ said her daughter Elana, 7. ‘But I hope he gets to go back to England to find his family.’
