Posted by: Richard Hill at May 22, 2005 08:59 AM

Somewhat OT: If people can’t stomach the thought of killing an anmial, stop buying your ruddy styrofoam-slabbed, factory-farmed dead flesh in Sainsburys!

Oh, and I apparently can’t format for toffee.

1. Airguns (under 12 ft lbs) are available without “letters of recommendation” or any such tosh.
2. Bowhunting of all sorts is illegal in Britain.
3. Squirrel makes good enough eating, although they are very disinclined to give up their skins even post mortem. The meat can be a bit tough, and tastes better in Autumn (stuffed with nuts).
4. Grey squirrels are destructive pests. They strip the bark from trees, eat fledglings, dig up everything going etc. etc.
5. There are not enough predators around that can deal with squirrels, so the population has gone through the roof.
6. They aren’t cute and fluffy, they are aggressive little sods that are little more than rats with bushy tails.
7. There aren’t enough red squirrels left to cause the sort of problems the greys have.

It is my understanding that any Brit who has a place to shoot and reference letters from their physician and vicar can obtain a permit to purchase such an air rifle. Best of all you can get them with sound suppressors without further paperwork, whereas in the States a suppressor requires as much hassle as a machine gun.