Clearly, the article Red Squirrels Rising by Erik Stokstad is about how the gray squirrel which was first introduced in North America, is completely annihilating their cousin, the red squirrel. The red squirrel is already endangered and might even go extinct if the gray squirrels keep invading and destroying their habitat. Aside from the gray squirrels surmounting the red squirrels for resources and shelter, they “also carry a deadly virus called squirrelpox. Gray squirrels are immune, but when the reds catch it, they quickly succumb to the gruesome disease” (Stokstad 1269). The disease they carry is making red squirrels die off quickly (usually in a few weeks), so it is harder for them to reproduce. Since the mortality rate was higher than
