An animal rights campaigner has called for traps which capture, rather than kill, squirrels nesting in a council office.

Colchester Council has placed traps at East Lodge to get rid of squirrels which are nesting in the loft of its High Street tax offices.

However Juliette Gardener of HOOF (Horror out of Farming) feels traps which catch rather than kill the squirrels should be used.

She said: "This is totally unnecessary - squirrels are not dangerous. The council say one of the reasons they are laying traps is because squirrels have been throwing roof tiles at passers-by.

"They haven't got the strength to pick roof tiles up, let alone throw them at passers-by.

"I thought the council was supposed to have a policy of re-homing animals rather than killing them."

She added: "These are the squirrels that people feed in Castle Park during the summer. They are a part of the scenery."

Environmental control manager Colin Daines said the traps had to be used because squirrels could not be located.

"Like rats, when squirrels get in a building they gnaw on things such as beams and cables, because they need to keep their teeth smooth. This can obviously cause all sorts of problems.

"But as far as I am aware, we are not allowed to release squirrels into the wild. Unfortunately, this doesn't leave us with many alternatives, and if anybody has any suggestions we'd be happy to hear them."

By Martin Buxton

Reporter's e-mail: martin_buxton@thisisessex.co.uk

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