Native species are often protected by the countries’ laws that the animal lives in. In The Republic of Ireland the red squirrel is a native. The grey squirrel, however, was introduced and is a terror in Ireland. The law for grey squirrels is quite opposite to the red squirrel. You are not allowed to release it back into the wild. You will be fined. Furthermore, you have to kill it yourself and bury it yourself to prevent it from harming the natural ecosystem of Southern Ireland. In Canada, we have many species of native squirrel however the eastern grey squirrel is not one of them. Like Ireland, we had them forced on us, and now they displace other native squirrel species. However, the grey squirrel in Ontario are still protected even though it is destructive to the ecology of Ontario. However, if squirrels of any kind, native or not, causing damage and destruction on your property that is costing you money then you do have the right to kill the squirrels. You can do so with a BB gun or with a hammer, however you like. You can trap them and drown them or just drop a heavy rock on them. There are no real rules in killing squirrels that are damaging your property. It is important, though, to know why they destroy your home and why they try to penetrate your attic.
The female squirrel of any species has a very specific birth plan. The plan is that the male should be known where near her, no male, she should be completely alone when giving birth. The reason for this is that male squirrels will mate with a female and then seek out other squirrels’ children and kill them to give their children a better chance at survival. This just ends up as a free for all and does not really affect individual squirrels ability to survive but does bottleneck the species causing rapid evolution that can be advantageous. The squirrel will spend a few weeks’ collection of food and then make a nest in the attic it has broken into. It will store the food there and prepare for birth. The squirrel wakes early and is generally highly active in the attic early in the morning and very late at night. This is when you will be able to hear them.
There are many traps you can use to catch or kill squirrels on your property. The ZAP trap built for rats may not have a strong enough voltage to kill a squirrel, but you can try. The better option if you plan on killing a squirrel through electrocution is to set up a car battery powered electric trap. You can do this with a steel plate and some food the squirrels will like. Connect the car battery to the steel plate and put the foot on the plate without touching it. When the squirrel touches the plate to get the food it will be electrocuted to death.
