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A red squirrel conservation project, that includes culling grey squirrels in Northern Ireland, has been awarded £550,000 in lottery and EU funding.

Grey squirrels are currently culled because they carry squirrel pox, a disease that is fatal for native reds. They also outcompete the reds for food.

The conservation project is led by the Ulster Wildlife Trust charity.

It will support volunteers in enhancing red squirrels' habitats, carrying out surveys, and continuing to cull greys.

The charity's living landscape manager, Conor McKinney, said the culling of grey squirrels has been practised for more than a decade in some parts of Northern Ireland, and that it had proved effective in protecting the red squirrel population.

Live traps are set in woodland for greys, and they are killed by being hit with a blunt instrument.

Mr McKinney told told the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ's Good Morning Ulster programme: "It's never a nice thing to have to sit and talk about the management of one species to protect another, but unfortunately we are in a process of trying to conserve a population of red squirrels.

"We have very few left in Northern Ireland and it's a necessity."

He said he did not know how many squirrels would be culled during the project but said it would operated in areas where grey squirrels were invading territory currently populated by reds.

"Ultimately, if we don't, then we're looking at the loss of our red squirrel population, which is a priority species which we need to protect," he added.

Mr McKinney said culling was only part of the project and that more than 50% of the funding would be used to support the reds proactively, by providing better habitats and access to food, as well as new research to identify more woodlands where reds are dominant.

The native red squirrel was once widespread throughout the island of Ireland.

Its population decline has been largely blamed on the importation of the non-native grey squirrel from North America during the early part of the 20th century.

The Ulster Wildlife Trust led the bid for the funding, which will be provided by the Heritage Lottery and EU Life Plus funds.

It will be used to support the activities of the Northern Ireland Squirrel Forum which is made up of eight voluntary groups that work to promote red squirrel conservation within their local areas.

Environment Minister Mark H Durkan welcomed the funding for the voluntary group, saying: "I have seen firsthand their important work which includes measures such as controlling grey squirrels, feeding red squirrels, fundraising and raising public awareness about red squirrel conservation.

"This also provides a great opportunity to enhance community engagement in this vital conservation work."