Save Red Squirrel's- Eat a Grey Squirrel

Yuck!  not my idea , but Man of the Woods just mailed  me with this little gem I just had to pop in and post it. Hilarious, but not a practical, ethical or desirable way to err, send our unwelcome 'encroacher's packing is it ?
Saving a squirrel by eating one

By Marlena Spieler From The International Herald Tribune

Published: January 7, 2009

"Rare roast beef splashed with meaty juices, pork enrobed in luscious crackling fat, perhaps a juicy, plump chicken ... these are feasts that come to mind when one thinks of quintessential British food. Lately, however, a new meat is gracing the British table: squirrel.

Though squirrel has appeared occasionally in British cookery, history doesn't deem it a dining favorite. Even during World War II and the period of austerity that followed, the Ministry of Food valiantly promoted the joys of squirrel soup and pie. British carnivores replied, "No, thank you."

These days, however, in farmers' markets, butcher shops, village pubs and elegant restaurants, squirrel is selling as fast as gamekeepers and hunters can bring it in."

"Part of the interest is curiosity and novelty," said Barry Shaw of Shaw Meats, who sells squirrel meat at the Wirral Farmers Market near Liverpool. "It's a great conversation starter for dinner parties."

While some have difficulty with the cuteness versus deliciousness ratio — that adorable little face, those ittsy-bitty claws — many feel that eating squirrel is a way to do something good for the environment while enjoying a unique gastronomical experience."

But at This Point it ceases to be quite as amusing

With literally millions of squirrels rampaging throughout England, Scotland and Wales at any given time, squirrels need to be controlled by culls. This means that hunters, gamekeepers, trappers and the Forestry Commission (the British equivalent of forest rangers) provide a regular supply of the meat to British butchers, restaurants, pâté and pasty makers and so forth.

The situation is more than simply a matter of having too many squirrels. In fact, there is a war raging in Squirreltown: invading interlopers (gray squirrels introduced from North America over the past century or more) are crowding out a British icon, the indigenous red squirrel immortalized by Beatrix Potter and cherished by generations since. The grays take over the reds' habitat, eat voraciously and harbor a virus named squirrel parapox (harmless to humans) that does not harm grays but can devastate reds. (Reports indicate, though, that the reds are developing resistance.)

"When the grays show up, it puts the reds out of business," said Rufus Carter, managing director of the Patchwork Traditional Food Company, a company based in Wales that plans to offer squirrel and hazelnut pâté on its British Web site, patchwork-pate.co.uk.

Enter the "Save Our Squirrels" campaign begun in 2006 to rescue Britain's red squirrels by piquing the nation's appetite for their marauding North American cousins. With a rallying motto of "Save a red, eat a gray!" the campaign created a market for culled squirrel meat.

British bon vivant's suddenly couldn't get enough squirrel. Television chefs were preparing it, cookbooks were extolling it, farmers' markets were selling out of it and restaurants in many places were offering it on the menu.

Meanwhile gamekeepers, hunters and trappers were happy to know that the meat was being eaten, not wasted. "My lads don't like to kill an animal if it's not going to be eaten," Shaw said of the hunters who bring him game.

Many enjoy squirrel, however, simply because they like its taste. Carter said he didn't know what he was eating when he tried it. But, he said, "at first bite, I thought it delicious." Patchwork will send squirrel pâté, by the way, in return for a donation to "Save Our Squirrels" — but only within Britain. Why?
Food 'shortages'?  Food riots, starvation. dogs, cats, dead horses- medical samples?

Ministry of Plenty ?

Mark Holdstock, a writer and broadcaster specializing in countryside matters, is less enthusiastic, having recently eaten squirrel on the air on"Farming Today,"  BBC' Radio 4's iconic program devoted to rural issues. "It's fair to say I didn't dislike it," he said.  Note:- But had to agree of course,

Nichola Fletcher, a food writer and co-owner of a venison farm, held a squirrel tasting for Britain's Guild of Food Writers, finding "their lovely flavour tasted of the nuts they nibbled." At a later event, however, she found the flavour disappointing, with "a greasy texture and unpleasant taste," presumably reflecting these squirrels' diet.

Though squirrel has been promoted as a low-fat food, Fletcher said that in her experience, "the quality and amount of fat varied from no visible fat to about 30 percent, depending on the season, their age and, especially, diet."

Fergus Henderson, the chef and co-owner of St. John restaurant in London, offers squirrel on the menu "seasonally." Though the meat is available all year long, it is in the spring, when hunting season is over, that country folk can focus their attentions on controlling the squirrel population. That's when squirrel appears on St. John's menu.

Henderson, who cooks with both poetry and passion, sometimes prepares his squirrels "to recreate the bosky woods they come from," braising them with bacon, "pig's trotter, porcini and whole peeled shallots to recreate the forest floor." He serves it with wilted watercress "to evoke the treetops."

Full Story

I really do not know, but answers on a postcard to Room 101 Ministry of Love.
I was very pushed for time, and still need some prolonged rest and didn't have time to look all the sneaking suspicions I felt up on Google
Or look up' Patchwork' or why things keep being in breach of something or another.