Story Archive

Do As We Say, Not As We Do (British Edition)

“At around 7.40pm on Thursday, police received a call from a woman at the Shropshire Arms pub in Northgate Street, Chester, reporting that a squirrel had climbed inside her handbag and would not leave her alone,” reported a spokesman for the Cheshire, England, Constabulary, noting it was a grey squirrel. Detective Constable “Nigel Thake attended the incident and released the squirrel back into the wild.” The spokesman was reminded that grey squirrels are an invading species, which threaten the native red squirrel, and that therefore, per Section 9 of the Wildlife & Countryside Act, it is a criminal offence to release a grey squirrel into the wild. “This means if you trap one, you are obliged to humanely dispatch it,” said a spokesman for Red Squirrels Northern England, which works to protect the native species. “You must not let it go as this act would be illegal.” The police spokesman issued an update to his statement: “I’m sure the squirrel in this case had managed to escape before a cage could be found.” (RC/BBC News) ...As an officer would say to an arrestee, “Tell it to the judge.”