Field of Science

Squirrel appreciation day - you must be joking

According to an authoritative source today, or yesterday, is Squirrel appreciation day. As this is being written about a half dozen well-fed fox squirrels are hanging, literally, around our bird feeders and this is after accepting corn and squash seeds as bribes to not do so. They are indeed handsome animals, and so the Phactor wishes to express his appreciation. Squirrels are appreciated when they don't gnaw the bark off tree limbs and the trunks of Japanese maples and bonsai trees. Squirrels are appreciated when they don't dig up bulbs and newly planted garden beds. Squirrels are appreciated when they don't eat your strawberries, all your strawberries, or your not yet mature squash. Squirrels are appreciated by our black and white "death to all squirrels" (in theory only, but her effort is appreciated) feline. Squirrels are truly appreciated by the purveyors of the hundreds of feet of fencing and stakes used to improve our squirrel appreciation. So the next time a hawk or fox dismembered squirrel carcass, or a squirrel pancake is in the road, it shall be very much appreciated, and not just today, but every day.

5 comments:

Carol Steel said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Shawn said...

Yikes...@Carol Steel and blogger...in a nutshell (no tangential pun intended) this is what is wrong with people. Squirrels are wonderful animals just trying to make a living like everything else. And the common comment that they are just 'furry tailed rats' is perplexing...rats too are just wild animals trying to make a living. Why is it the animals that remarkably are least negatively influenced by our incessant penchant for habitat encroachment and destruction are the ones most often reviled by nature-disliking individuals. Seems to some the only good wild animals are those extinct or in zoos. Perhaps we can find a concrete and steel bunker to house you all in...keep you protected from vile nature. Will even give you paint ball guns to shoot at things from narrow slots in the bunker so as to satisfy your need to cleanse your surroundings. But only paint ball guns though...reducing your chances of ever harming things in the real world.

quidnunc said...

I am in bed with a cold and to alleviate boredom I hit the 'Next Blog' button well over 500 times, and this is the only blog I found that had me reading as far as the first full stop. With the exception of a single sentence that read, 'My ancestor changed his name to Freeman from Toothak' God that's profound, if entirely unsurprising. I feel a novel coming on.

William M. Connolley said...

Buy an air rifle. Or given that you're in the States and constitutionally entitled to bear arms, something considerably larger.

The Phytophactor said...

No violence is advocated against squirrels, and even the b&w fluffy death to squirrels cat is kept on a lead, albeit a long one, and in her life, close does count. The actual problem is that some animals have adapted to human environments so well that their urban populations are sometimes 10 times that of natural areas.