This article is from page 6 of the 2008-05-27 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 6 JPG
AN Ennis sculptor is in a race against time to find a home for two man-size squirrels to avoid their destruction. Earlier this year, Barry Wrafter received a text message without any warning to say ‘stop working on the commission’ of the red and grey
squirrel after the developers who commissioned the work pulled out of the project.
Mr Wrafter was three-quarters way through the work but now, with no takers, the wet clay of the red squir- rel is falling off, leaving the squirrel vulnerable to the same fate suffered by thousands of red squirrels in Ire-
land in recent years.
Mr Wrafter, who won an open competition for the project, secured €55,000 of the €80,000 commission before the developer withdrew from the project. He is now offering the work for one-third of the initial com- mission in order to secure a home for the two squirrels.
“It is a bargain. I have been work- ing on the piece for the past year and I have put off other jobs in order to concentrate on this.
“Tt would be a terrible waste if they would have to be broken up. It breaks my heart really and I would love to get a home for the piece, so if there is any developer or body out there that would be interested in buying the piece, they should get in touch with none
A bronze plate has yet to be placed on the red squirrel and this will cost €20,000. The squirrels are currently at Mr Wrafter’s workyard near Shan- non and he said the wet clay on the red squirrel is cracking and it could completely crack up within a month unless work recommences.
The sculpture was commissioned for a shopping centre in Longford and the piece marks the struggle of the red squirrel against the grey squirrel.
Three breeding pairs of grey squir- rels were introduced to Ireland in 1911 by a US national as part of a present for a wedding in Longford and since then the grey squirrel has wreaked havoc on the red squirrel population in Ireland
The grey squirrel has colonised large parts of the country to the det- riment of the red squirrel and Mr Wrafter said, ““The grey squirrel has overran the country and the sculptor was bringing attention to that.”