The worst wedding gift in history: an Irish tale of predator helps prey

Over 100 years ago, a wedding guest gave a dozen gray squirrels to a lucky Irish couple. What ensued? An ecological catastrophe ... and then a pleasant surprise.

If you’re from where I live in the Pacific Northwest, squirrels might not seem very special. It seems like all I have to do is look out my window and I’ll see one, bounding across the grass.

But in the British Isles, the red squirrel is a “British darling.” They’re a species on the brink of extinction. They adorn magazine covers, and entire organizations revolve around them and their conservation needs. It seems like everyone wants to see this fluffy-eared, threatened species bounce back.

And the tale of this creature has become very curious in one place in particular: Ireland.

“What's happening in Ireland is very special, and this is watched across Europe by those trying to save and conserve red squirrels in their woodlands,” said Ruth Hanniffy, a mammal conservation biologist with the Vincent Wildlife Trust.

The red squirrel population is mysteriously recovering.

For over 100 years, the red squirrel has had to compete with an adversary — one that’s twice its size: the gray squirrel. They are more adaptable, more brazen, and they’ve been bounding across Ireland, squashing any hope of the red’s return, until now.

In an odd twist that really deserves its own place in the Irish storybooks, a third player has entered the scene — and it happens to be the red squirrels’ predator.

“They've got this beautiful cream lining the ears, the short muzzle, really beady eyes and this fabulous bushy tail. And this bushy tail actually helps them to balance when they're up in the canopy on branches. So it's part of their overall fantastic arboreal dexterity,” Hanniffy said.

Hanniffy is describing the pine marten. Even though this player is a predator that eats squirrels, it’s turning things around for the resident reds. I’ve traveled to Ireland to unravel this riddle, and to tell a tale of one squirrel against another — how a wily carnivore called the pine marten is coming back, restoring balance and actually helping its prey return to the Emerald Isle.

THE WILD is a production of KUOW in Seattle in partnership with Chris Morgan Wildlife and Wildlife Media. It is produced by Lucy Soucek and Matt Martin, and edited by Jim Gates. It is hosted, produced and written by Chris Morgan. Fact checking by Apryle Craig. Our theme music is by Michael Parker.

Follow us on Instagram (@thewildpod) for more adventures and behind the scenes action!