A SQUIRREL often sits on the fence near my kitchen window. It's hard not to like the comical little chap.

Waling along the riverbank, I often encounter rats, and occasionally mink. Not so keen on these furry critters.

It's such a shame that our native species - boar, beaver and wolf - were driven to extinction, and before them the bears from their caves.

We destroyed these magnificent animals, and exchanged them for foreign imports that have caused nothing but plagues and environmental mayhem.

Imagine beavers back at Bevere, the Worcester suburb named after the goofy-toothed rodents that once lived in such abundance there. We can but dream.