A point I have been making in the Twittersphere.

The red squirrel is actually protected, but reminding people that the squirrel is the cousin of the rat is not sensible. Particularly as we have unrepealed (as far as I know) wartime legislation suggesting it's just fine to shoot any "tree rats" (AKA squirrels) you spot and pop them in the pot or a pie

I spent years of my childhood hand-feeding Sammy the squirrel his daily ration of nuts whilst he sat in my lap.