The Isle of Wight is an established red squirrel zone and this could be extended to other islands but not at the expense of the grey squirrel. The Welsh Labour Government pathed the way for an 18-year killing spree of grey squirrels, either by bludgeoning adults, including nursing and pregnant mothers to their deaths, causing their babies (kittens) to slowly die of thirst or starvation, and by shooting them into the head with an air rifle, and by poisoning.  An even cruller tactic is to poke dreys with sticks, often full of mothers and their kittens, then shoot any escapee on site, with kittens often stamped on as a means of killing.  The Welsh Labour Government 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 culls, despite numerous petitions.   

Developing a vaccine for the squirrel pox would be far more effective than an infinite number of brutal culls and would be a one-off investment, unlike culls which are ongoing.1

Just as we’ve helped struggling songbirds in this country by providing bird feeders and wooden boxes for nests, we can help boost numbers by providing food in the harshest times of the year for red squirrels.

All of these ways help red squirrels unlike killing hundreds of thousands of greys that essentially do nothing to resolve the situation and causes untold misery and pain.

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

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