{"links":{"self":"https://petitions.senedd.wales/petitions/246919.json"},"data":{"type":"petition","id":246919,"attributes":{"action":"Support vaccine development to save red squirrels from Squirrelpox virus","background":"Squirrelpox virus is deadly to red squirrels. In autumn 2023, the Senedd debated vaccine development https://petitions.senedd.wales/petitions/245357\r\n\r\nDespite historical Ministerial commitment to investigate the feasibility of protecting red squirrels, after 2.5 years the Department of Rural Affairs had not decided how to deliver a promised pox vaccine feasibility project.\r\n\r\nIt's time to move forward and support new pioneering vaccine research.","additional_details":"When elephants faced a deadly incurable virus, five years later scientists had created a vaccine  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cjd1j02y88do \r\n\r\nThe same ethos is required to protect red squirrels.\r\n\r\nRecently, Anglesey County Council councillors unanimously voted to urge the previous Welsh Government to act to save red squirrels from the pox threat: https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/urgent-vaccine-needed-protect-angleseys-33501538\r\n\r\nThe political urgency comes from the reinvasion of the island by grey squirrels and the inevitability of pox outbreaks decimating red squirrels.\r\nhttps://www.northwaleschronicle.co.uk/news/25789901.anglesey-conservationists-fear-future-red-squirrels/\r\n\r\nThe new Welsh Government should act as a catalyst for successful red squirrel conservation. They should be pragmatic and support new innovative vaccine research. https://research.bangor.ac.uk/en/publications/a-protective-vaccine-against-the-pox-virus-for-red-squirrels/","state":"closed","signature_count":12824,"threshold_for_referral":250,"threshold_for_debate":10000,"created_at":"2026-05-19T18:26:47.091Z","updated_at":"2026-07-20T23:00:02.287Z","rejected_at":null,"opened_at":"2026-05-21T09:49:57.604Z","closed_at":"2026-07-19T22:59:59.999Z","completed_at":null,"moderation_threshold_reached_at":"2026-05-19T19:24:30.000Z","referral_threshold_reached_at":"2026-05-21T21:54:20.000Z","referred_at":"2026-07-20T23:00:00.000Z","debate_threshold_reached_at":"2026-07-12T09:54:40.000Z","scheduled_debate_date":null,"debate_outcome_at":null,"archived_at":null,"submitted_on_paper":false,"submitted_on":null,"creator_name":null,"rejection":null,"debate":null,"topics":[{"code":"animal-welfare","name":"Animal 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