They鈥檙e furry, cute and displacing their neighbours.

Roughly seven years ago, Thompson Rivers University professor Karl Larsen warned the City of 琉璃神社 of the devastation caused to native red squirrels by the invasive Eastern grey ones.

READ MORE: Furry invaders continue to take over Okanagan

Moving up from the West Coast, the grey squirrels can be spotted in nearly every park in the Central Okanagan.

鈥淭here has been absolutely nothing done with the squirrels since (two years ago),鈥� said Larson. 鈥淭here鈥檚 no monitoring, so I can鈥檛 even tell you where they have spread to. Zero movement from the government at all levels, and I鈥檓 pretty sure that鈥檚 how it will stay. It seems like a dead duck in terms of management.鈥�

As they aren鈥檛 territorial, grey squirrels move into areas where native red squirrels live. The red squirrels are forced out of their habitat as the larger squirrels move in.

READ MORE: There鈥檚 a new invader in town

Bruce Smith, communications officer with the Regional District of the Central Okanagan, said nothing has been done because the squirrels haven鈥檛 posed a problem.

鈥淣othing鈥檚 changed, there鈥檚 been nothing going from the (regional district) board and no direction from the board in this regard,鈥� he said, adding the squirrels haven鈥檛 caused significant issues for the Central Okanagan in the parks or affected other the animals.

The regional district doesn鈥檛 have a specific threshold on when to decide to intervene, but if it starts to notice a problem, it will be addressed, Smith said.

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