Feeding Squirrels - Good or Bad idea?

Is placing a squirrel feeder in a garden a good or bad idea? I have read that it can make squirrels become dependent on the feeder and aggressive towards humans. I don't get many squirrels here, just one or two using the fence as an access route, rarely visiting the garden or borders. Would a feeder entice them to explore further and become a nuisance or health hazard due to possible disease?

 

I time you will have many

I don't feed them but they are a big problem so i have to sort them out, last year i had 57 squirral pie's

 

They are cute to watch at, but at the same time they are rats with fluffy tales and considered pests. I specifically got a bird feeder inaccessible for squirrels and pigeons.
Squirrels dig, steal apples and sunflowers at my place. I have a school territory with large trees behind the garden, where they live.
I wouldn't feed them. Only if you've got red native squirrels.

 

''No, it is not illegal to feed grey squirrels in the UK, but it is discouraged, and you must not relocate them. It's illegal to release or relocate a grey squirrel, and you should avoid feeding them in a way that could attract them to your property or cause problems. It is also illegal to harm them under the Wild Mammals (Protection) Act 1996
It is illegal to "harbour" (keep in captivity without a license, sell, or allow to breed or escape) grey squirrels in the UK

. They are classified as an invasive non-native species under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and the Invasive Alien Species (Enforcement +Permitting Order 2019
Key legal points:

• Keeping in captivity: It is an offence to keep a grey squirrel in captivity without a specific license from an organisation such as Natural England or the Welsh Government. Theselicences are generally for specific purposes like scientific research or education, not for keeping them as pets, and are rarely issued for release purposes.
• Release into the wild: It is illegal to release a captive grey squirrel into the wild or to allow one to escape.
• Trapping: If a grey squirrel is trapped, the law states that it must be humanely destroyed. You are not legally obliged to kill it yourself, but you must ensure it is humanely dispatched, for example, by taking it to a vet to be euthanised (vets cannot charge for euthanasia of wild animals, but may charge for treatment) or to a licensed rescue centre.
• Welfare: While grey squirrels have limited legal protection, the Wild Mammals (Protection) Act 1996 makes it illegal to subject them to wilful acts of cruelty or unnecessary suffering, which means that any control or dispatch method must be humane.

In essence, you cannot legally "harbour" a grey squirrel in a way that implies long-term, unlicensed care or keeping it as a pet ''

 

We have lots of squirrels in our woodland garden. Our bird feeders are carefully positioned so that the squirrels can’t jump onto them from surrounding branches, and we have domes above the feeders to ensure the birds get the food.
We did put up a special squirrel feeder on a tree trunk when we first moved here. It had a Perspex window and a wooden lid for the squirrels to lift up. We put peanuts in that, and it meant that birds couldn’t get at them, and risk choking their chicks with them.
Eventually some of the squirrels decided they couldn’t be bothered to lift the lid, and chewed through the perspex instead, so we stopped using it. Over the years we have been here, there have been individual squirrels that have plucked up courage to come to the French window and attract our attention. They can be a lot of fun, but can get rather overfamiliar, at least one would have come into the house if invited. We did have to have one evicted from a roof space where it decided to build a nest. Did a lot of damage to the wooden soffits. They also bury things in my plant pots, and dig them up again.
We now keep them at arms length, the ‘friendly’ ones have probably died off now, so when we go outside, they run off, rather than come over to see if we have any nuts for them. We never fed them by hand, and now just enjoy seeing them larking around on the lawn or in the tree branches.

 

Unless you are lucky enough to have the native Red squirrel visiting, I would certainly say that feeding/encouraging the Greys is not a good idea.
So many people refer to them as cute furry animals and intentionally encourage them to feed and breed without taking into account the havoc they can cause.

 

Thank you everyone for your replies, you have confirmed my suspicions . The squirrels can continue to gaze at the squirrel proof bird feeders, sorry, find your own food .

 

Just one word "bad".

 

I dont intentionally feed them but they do raid the bird feeders, the cats in the area and my dog tend to make them wary about lingering too long.

Its like most wildlife, if you feed them you need to be sure you really want them around, all wildlife has some drawbacks especially if you have a pristine garden, if you have a wildlife garden I guess its different.

 

Just watch this lady feed them instead:
https://www.youtube.com/@Squirrels_at_the_window
Where she lives the grey squirrel is a native.
She's got a regular visitor called Minnie who can catch a thrown nut every time!

 

My neighbour had grey squirrels which got into his roof space, they chewed through cables and heating pipes ( plastic ) causing a great deal of damage. They were out of house for over a month while it was dried out and repairs were carried out.

 

Pleas don't encourage them @Plantminded . The damage thoses things have done - and not just to our native reds, is hideous.

 

Don’t worry @fairygirl, they won’t be welcomed here .

 

Thank you @salar, I rarely get any here and won’t be encouraging them.

 

I also stopped using peanuts many years ago @Plantminded , which also helps. They still come in the garden, but there's less accessible food for them, which helps. They can access the ground level feeder, but I don't put a lot on that at a time, and the birds usually clear it pretty quickly, so there's slim pickings for them.