We are brilliant at saving what we've already lost.

We are far less committed to protecting what is still here.

Last week, the Government announced £1 million of funding to explore reintroducing golden eagles to England - a species that has been functionally extinct here for well over a century. It's a beautiful ambition. Rewilding matters. But it comes at a moment when another native species - one still clinging on, still breeding, still visible in our woodlands if you know where to look - is being quietly allowed to slip away.

The red squirrel is endangered in England and Wales. The UK population has collapsed from around 3.5 million to roughly 150,000 (Woodland Trust) - and in England, some estimates put the figure as low as 15,000. They have disappeared from 60% of their range in just thirteen years. Where squirrelpox takes hold, red populations die off 17 to 25 times faster than through competition alone.

This isn't a species we might lose one day. It is a species we are losing now, on our watch.

And here's the hardest part: we know exactly what would help.

• Proper funding for squirrelpox vaccine development, building on the work already underway
• Humane fertility control for grey squirrels - the oral contraceptive bait APHA has been developing for years, ready to scale
• Red squirrel rangers on the ground in priority landscapes, not just goodwill and volunteer hours
• Real enforcement of woodland biodiversity commitments, so habitat promises translate into habitat protection

None of this is mysterious. None of it is experimental. The science exists. The people exist. The volunteer networks exist. What's missing is the funding and the political will to match the ambition we've shown for species that have already gone.

Reintroducing eagles is a wonderful thing to aim for. But it rings hollow when a species still here, still hanging on, still recoverable, is getting fragments of support while extinction is funded as a headline.

We are asking the Government, Forestry England, and Defra for one simple thing: match the ambition. If £1 million can be found to explore bringing back a species lost over a hundred years ago, meaningful funding must be ring-fenced for the red squirrels still alive today.

Save Our Reds Day is 15 May 2026 - tied to Endangered Species Day. It's a day to celebrate what we still have, and to fight for what we're in danger of losing.

Please sign. Please share. Please help us make sure the red squirrel doesn't become the next conservation success story we tell ourselves we should have written sooner.

Because we already know how that story ends.