Each recommended way of killing squirrels is as horrific as the next.

Live capture traps leave squirrels struggling to escape until the trapper returns and shoots them.1 It’s recommended that traps are checked daily, but it isn’t a requirement and as a consequence squirrels can be left for days to starve or die of thirst.

When the trapper returns, they will either shoot the squirrel or use the ‘sack method’ – the squirrel is shoved into a sack and beaten to death.1 This barbaric bludgeoning of gentle, inquisitive animals is common.

Spring traps don’t necessarily kill the squirrel immediately but can cause a slow and painful death.1 The trap may catch a squirrel only on their leg or shoulder, leaving them trapped and left to die of thirst, blood loss or starvation.

With firearms, there is no guideline on what the most effective weapon is, but most hunters use air rifles or pistols so that they avoid regulation by the Firearms Act. The reason why there are no regulations on how to kill grey squirrels is because they have no legal protection.

Killing is allowed even during nursing season when mothers nurture and raise their kittens, who depend upon them for everything.1 Kittens are born blind and are reliant on their mother for food and warmth for two to three months. To kill a mother squirrel during this time, knowing that she has up to eight kittens depending on her, is an atrocious act that leaves the babies to die of starvation.

Drowning squirrels remains a common practice despite being illegal.2 It happens because people know there are no repercussions.

In late winter and early spring when squirrels are nursing in their nests (dreys), hunters use the ‘drey poke’ method.1 One person pokes at the drey with a pole while the other one shoots at any squirrels who run away.

Kittens who fall to the ground can be killed by dogs or simply stamped on.  With ‘pests’, efficiency trumps animal welfare.

Warfarin, a blood-thinning medication that is also used in human heart disease patients, is used when squirrels are found in buildings.1 It is the same method used to kill rats. It causes internal bleeding and it can take days before the squirrel dies of acute anaemia.

The Welsh Labour Government pathed the way for an 18-year killing spree and has taken pride in this atrocity, declaring Anglesey in North Wales a ‘grey squirrel free’ zone. This appalling killing spree was made possible by way of direct funding from the National Lottery. The National Lottery continues to make funding available for grey squirrel killing sprees, with a number of red squirrel organisations in support, despite numerous petitions. 

Some red squirrel lobby groups are currently engaged in what they call the “humane dispatch” of grey squirrels, by clubbing them over the head with a blunt instrument. However, Scottish Natural Heritage’s area manager for Shetland rightly condemned the brutal killing of twenty-one grey seal pups by a local fisherman, who clubbed them over the head with a blunt instrument. He said, "This is a shocking case. The degree of casual cruelty shows that there is still a great deal of ignorance and prejudice about grey seals”. But let us not forget that SNH, together with the Scottish Wildlife Trust and others, are currently engaged in the “humane dispatch” of grey squirrels by the same method, which amounts to gross hypocrisy and double standards.

Some text has been kindly reproduced, with a few minor alterations, from:  

https://viva.org.uk/animals/other-animals/squirrels/