“We’re watching a quiet extinction unfold in real time.”

A fast-growing grassroots campaign is urging the public to help stop the silent disappearance of England’s endangered red squirrels – by adding 20,000 new voices to a national petition within just 20 days, in time for Red Squirrel Awareness Week (6–12 October).

The petition – www.change.org/save-our-reds – has already gathered more than 56,000 signatures, calling on the UK Government to:

• Enforce existing wildlife laws
• Halt unchecked deforestation
• Legally protect at least 20% of UK woodland for biodiversity

Launched by North Pennines-based journalist and animal campaigner Marie Carter-Robb, the petition is backed by red squirrel volunteers, nature lovers and conservationists including BBC wildlife filmmaker Terry Abraham.

“This isn’t just about a cute woodland animal. It’s about ecological collapse, broken promises – and the soul of our countryside.”
– Marie Carter-Robb, campaign founder

Marie was inspired to act after a red squirrel began visiting her garden, just as nearby woodlands were being felled with no wildlife safeguards. Since then, the campaign has grown into a national movement – and she has personally written to King Charles, a lifelong red squirrel supporter, to share public concern.

What the petition calls for:

• A 20% wildlife set-aside in all publicly funded woodland schemes
• Enforcement of red squirrel protections under the Wildlife & Countryside Act
• Inclusion of reds in the UK Habitats and Species Regulations (like beavers and badgers)
• An urgent reassessment of planned clear-felling in known red squirrel habitats

“I’ve seen with my own eyes what’s happening at Killhope and Pow Hill,” says Marie. “Woodlands once alive with red squirrels are being flattened – with no mitigation, no oversight, no consequence.”

Despite being listed as ‘Near Threatened’ in the UK, the red squirrel population has collapsed to under 160,000 – compared to 2.7 million invasive greys, which carry the deadly squirrelpox virus and strip reds of food and habitat.

Help reach 75,000 voices:

Sign the petition: www.change.org/save-our-reds

Image: Pictured is a red squirrel in Cumbria – photo by Julie Bailey.