PhD Student, Anna Schilling is studying the leprosy recently discovered in the red squirrel population that call Brownsea Island home (managed by the National Trust and the Dorset Wildlife Trust). Anna tells us more in the below interview ...
In March it was announced that some of the red squirrels on Brownsea Island, Dorset, are suffering from leprosy. The island, which is managed by the National Trust and Dorset Wildlife Trust, is home to around 200 red squirrels.
They are working with researchers from the University of Edinburgh to better understand the disease and its impact upon the island’s wildlife.
Originally from Germany, Anna Schilling will spend the next three years studying leprosy in red squirrels. Based at the University of Edinburgh, her PhD is partly sponsored by the National Trust and Dorset Wildlife Trust.
(Photo 1 by John Millar, National Trust Images)
Why did you want to work on red squirrel leprosy? I’m a conservation vet by training, studying with Professor Meredith and Dr Lurtz at the University of Edinburgh. Back home in Germany, I was working with horses.
What we’re doing on Brownsea Island is groundbreaking science. Red squirrels are essential to the ecosystems to which they belong. The disease – and the study – has far reaching implications for the squirrels.
What are you doing? How do you test the squirrels for leprosy? Leprosy can have clear signs: the ears are puffy and there can be swelling in the face. But some squirrels might not show any symptoms – whilst others could be carriers of the disease.
We have been trapping red squirrels on the island. We put the animals under general anaesthesia and take blood, skin and hair samples. The process doesn’t harm the squirrels. All the squirrels are released back into the wild, except where the animal will suffer and is likely to die.
Brownsea is the perfect place to carry out this research, with a contained population of red squirrels.
What will this research tell us? How will it change how National Trust and Dorset Wildlife Trust manage the island? It’s just too early to say. But the research may well have implications for conservation organisations. We need to understand more about how the disease is transferred between squirrels and other animals.
(Photo 2: Chris Lacey, National Trust Images)
Should people be worried about squirrel leprosy? No. There is no risk to visitors. From looking at old pictures of red squirrels on Brownsea, the disease has been on the island for at least forty years. In forty years not a single person on the island has had any symptoms of the disease.
Why are we only just finding out about the disease now?No one looked for leprosy in red squirrels before. If you don’t look for something, you can’t find it.
(Photo 3: Stewart Cahman, Dorset Wildlife Trust)
Find out more about the project here:
National Trust Web
National Trust Twitter :@nationaltrust
Dorset Wildlife Trust Web
Dorset Wildlife Trust Twitter: @DorsetWildlife