I know this would vary from locale to locale, but, presumably, there are some animals that do not require a permit to kill (mice in mouse traps, for example). How does this work? Is there a list of “always OK to kill” species?
Edit: Thank you everybody for the replies!
Did you know both are invasive? I read a study once that our native species of squirrels are extinct and went extinct some time ago.
At roughly the same time rich landowners imported both the Eurasian reds and the American greys. We have decided to conserve the reds as they’re closest to our native reds but it’s very subjective.
Why in any hell would you import squirrels‽
In the 18th and 19th centuries big fancy estates in the countryside would import ‘exotic’ animals to have on their land to show off their wealth. It’s where a few of our deer species come from, pheasants, partridge, the little owl, and the squirrels.
Some others were popular but didn’t naturalise, like peacocks, it’s interesting to think how life would be if peacocks were as prolific as pigeons.
Peacocks are as ornery as canada geese and make more noise. It’s not great when not your peacock decides he’s gonna roost on your roof.
I used to work at a zoo that had free roaming peacocks. The noise is the worst thing for me, it sounds like someone being murdered, they’re also huge!
But on an aside, Canada geese were also introduced by rich men showing off to their friends.