![]() “And the thing have to realize is that just about every minute of every day is a careful behavioral decision that they’re making in order to survive.”Įastern gray squirrels even engage in “deceptive caching,” digging a hole and pretending to bury a seed they keep in their mouths. “One of the big misconceptions is that their behavior just seems so random, that they’re just out there popping around,” says Steele. They remember cache sites, monitoring and relocating food throughout the season. They can even keep fast-germinating white oak acorns from sprouting by excising embryos before burying the seeds. Research by Steele and others has documented their ability to decide which seeds are better eaten immediately and which ones can be stored. Unlike other squirrel species, tree squirrels don’t hibernate and must regulate food supplies all year. But understanding more about what Wilkes University professor Michael Steele has called their “high-maintenance lifestyle” may garner sympathies of even the most frustrated squirrel detractor. “They’re like a house can opener.”Īnyone dismayed by squirrelly birdfeeder antics will recognize that description. “There’s no difference to a squirrel in terms of what’s natural and what’s human-built,” says Griffin. They can scale walls and squeeze through 2-inch holes. Squirrels’ ingenuity knows few boundaries, and their maternal instincts are so strong they’ve been known to fight off dogs and, on rare occasions, chew through metal to get to their young. All too commonly, HWS arrives at a job to find a series of live traps set on a roof and the squirrel family still cozily ensconced in the attic.įailure to consider animal behavior or repair structural damage creates open invitations for wildlife. Beyond the obvious cruelty, such approaches don’t solve the problem. When the call for help comes too late, HWS is left to pick up the pieces of botched jobs: In one case, the team arrived to find an illegal body-crushing trap clamped down on a squirrel who just happened to be walking by. Once everyone’s out, the team seals entry points to prevent recurrence. They remove babies, place them in a box nearby, install a one-way door and wait for the mother to move her family. ![]() They determine where the animals entered. They explain that a squirrel in the attic is likely a mother seeking a safe space to raise her young. Griffin and his colleagues can often intercede before clients act on those instincts. “If you have an animal who’s a nuisance or in your house, typically it’s framed as, ‘This animal is targeting me in some way, I’ve got to solve it I’ve got to solve it on an emergency basis’-without really understanding what’s going on.” Making a House a Home ![]() His team runs Humane Wildlife Services, which humanely evicts animals from attics, chimneys and other structures. “There’s a real disconnection from nature that exacerbates the problem,” says Griffin. ![]() John Griffin, director of urban wildlife solutions at the HSUS, has seen his share of squirrels left to die after homeowners set traps and never looked back. Humans can be cruel and irrational, especially when the motivation is revenge. Though the scene of perceived seed-stealing crimes is more likely to be a birdfeeder these days than an agricultural field, the measures are still drastic one of my friend’s relatives shoots squirrels to guard the feast he’s laid out for songbirds. Caught between unbridled admiration by those who delight in their acrobatic ways and relentless persecution by others intent on “doing battle” with them, common tree squirrel species are sometimes subjected to draconian treatment. Treated more like outdoor pets than wild animals, squirrels were also transported far from their native stomping grounds to cities like Seattle and London, where Eastern grays are now blamed for marginalizing other species.Ī microcosm of our contradictory relationships with animals, human-squirrel interactions have long been shortsighted. It wasn’t the first time humans waged war on the bushy-tailed rodents: Massachusetts had already offered fourpence.Ī century later, cities along the Eastern seaboard began releasing gray squirrels into urban centers for the enjoyment of local residents, even supplying nest boxes and community-stocked feeders. In 1749, Pennsylvania put a bounty on Eastern gray squirrels-threepence per scalp. ![]()
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