Why Paris Has Squirrels: Escaped Pets, Perfect Parks, Few Predators

Red squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris) thriving in Paris are not native to the city — they're descendants of 19th-century introductions.

Origin Story

• 1800s: Fashionable Parisians kept squirrels as exotic pets.
• Escapes / releases: From private menageries, Tuileries, Jardin des Plantes.
• First wild breeding recorded: 1880s in Bois de Boulogne.

Why They Stayed

• Urban forest: 400+ parks (Bois de Boulogne 846 ha, Bois de Vincennes 995 ha), tree-lined boulevards, cemetery canopies (Père Lachaise).
• Food: Acorns, beechnuts, chestnuts, bird feeders, human snacks.
• Low predation: No pine martens, few goshawks, foxes scarce in center. Cats take juveniles but not population-level impact.
• Adaptability: Bold, omnivorous, cavity-nesting in plane trees.

Current Status

• Population: ~10,000–15,000 (estimates).
• Genetic studies show multiple introduction events.
• Red squirrel (native to France) — not invasive grey squirrel (UK/Italy).

Conflicts

• Bark stripping (plane trees, maples).
• Bird-feeder raids.
• Attic nesting (chewed wiring).

Management: public education (don't feed), tree guards, humane deterrence. Eradication neither desired nor feasible.

Paris's squirrels are accidental urbanites that found a niche — and Parisians mostly love them.