Marilyn's Photos - Sep 28 2025 - Attack Squirrel

 

Squirrels seem to attract love it or hate it responses.  We don't worry about squirrel attacks.  Think bear attacks and a different concern arises.  So the poster below and story are a bit of a surprise  This happened in California.  Things happen in California don't they?  Here's the AP article.   It turns out that squirrels are well known for causing power outages in the U.S.  They are responsible for 15,000 of animal related outages across five states. They are considered the number one threat to the U.S. electrical grid.  Toronto Hydro reported squirrels caused 80 outages in the city in 2023.  A notable one occurred in the winter in the Financial district.  They call it "wildlife interference."  A perfect phrase. I have found a Sunday Squirrel Joke! The churches in town were all suffering from a squirrel problem. The Presbyterian church called a meeting to decide what to do about their squirrel infestation. After much prayer and consideration, they concluded that the squirrels were predestined to be there, and they certainly should not interfere with God’s will.   At the Baptist church, the squirrels had taken an interest in the baptistry. The deacons met and decided to put a water-slide on the baptistry and let the squirrels drown themselves. The squirrels really liked the slide and, unfortunately, all knew how to swim, so there were twice as many squirrels the following week.   The Lutheran church decided that they were not in a position to harm any of God’s creatures. So, they humanely trapped their squirrels and set them free behind the Baptist church. Two weeks later, the squirrels were back when the Baptists took down the waterslide.   The Episcopalians tried a much more unique path by setting out bowls of whiskey around their church in an effort to kill the squirrels with alcohol poisoning. They sadly learned how much vandalism a band of drunk squirrels can do. The Catholic church came up with a more creative strategy—they baptized all the squirrels and made them members of the church, so that now they only ever see them at Christmas and Easter. The squirrel problem at the Jewish synagogue lasted about a half hour. They grabbed the first squirrel they saw and circumcised it. They haven’t seen another squirrel since. My "mighty squirrel" picture was taken at Hamilton Gage Park - quite the noble stance.

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Mar 10 2023 - Squirrels at Play

 

I can imagine that the subject of play in animals is controversial among biologists and ethologists.  How dare animals have fun in adulthood.  Humans have way less fun as we become adults.  Therefore given we are at the top of the life chain, especially of intelligence, it makes sense that this is an issue - squirrels should not be playing.  Especially now in early spring out front in the garden. Scientifically in the past, play in adult animals was considered a functionless behaviour unworthy of study. “Behavioural fat” as Dietland Müller-Schwarze and colleagues described it in their study on play behaviour in deer fawns...the old mantra that animals never play for the sake of it, that there’s always an underlying biological imperative at work, is increasingly difficult to reconcile the more we observe other species, including squirrels." They delve into possible reasons HERE with video footage. One reason given is a parasite that causes itching (yuk!) - so explains the jumping and wiggling. Most of these articles are anywhere from 5 to 10 years old.  I recently heard a CBC interview where play was clearly observed in various animals and now being acknowledged. What about how World Guinness Records views squirrels? Here's a non-Guinness record: it could only be from the US -  Mountain Musings: "Garth T. McGillicuddy and Henry A. (Bubba) Jablonski were deer hunting on Maryland's Eastern Shore on Bubba's farm last Thursday when they were attacked by "the biggest dang squirrel I ever seen in my life" according to Mr. McGillicuddy. The animal has been identified by a biologist from the MD Department of Natural Resources as a Delmarva Colossus Squirrel. These large tree dwellers had not been seen in over a hundred years and were presumed to be extinct. The biologist also stated that the hunters were lucky to be carrying deer rifles as these squirrels had been known to attack humans and carry off dogs and small children. As this is the only known specimen of the Delmarva Colossus Squirrel, it is likely that the world record trophy will never be broken. When asked what he planned to do with the animal, Mr. Jablonski replied "That baby's going on the wall. I don't know of nobody who's got a giant squirrel on the wall." He further stated that he might be willing to loan it to the Bass Pro Shops or Cabelas outdoor stores for a touring show "if they throw in a bass boat." Remembering Squirrel House Garden, now known as Martin House.   Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

May 12 2021 - Squirrelopolis

 

I can't believe how much animosity is within humans. It is the reaction to squirrels that brings up this topic.  And yet there they are up in the Norway Maple running along its broad arms and up and down its trunk, all along the fence jumping up and down, and into the garden amongst the plants along with the birds - the birds can actually sit on the leaves of daffodils and other perennials.   Cute as that is to me, squirrels bring forth rage and fury.   The major cause of animosity from the articles I read centres around bird feeders. Mostly they are opinion pieces - love or hate articles about squirrels.  There are lots of opinions about squirrels.  I found some intriguing information - that  squirrels attack and bite people.  This from The Atlantic: "... Adam wasn’t bitten, thankfully. The squirrel leaped onto his chest, then quickly bounded off onto a nearby tree. (“So, basically parkour,” he said.) And it’s actually pretty rare for squirrels to carry rabies, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Small mammals such as squirrels, rats, mice, hamsters, guinea pigs, gerbils, chipmunks, rabbits, and hares are almost never found to be infected with rabies and have not been known to cause rabies among humans in the United States,” What level of concern should we have? "Between 1999 and 2015, the most recent year for which the CDC has published data, 522 people in the United States were killed by dogs and 1,231 people were killed by other non-human mammals—meaning farm animals, mostly, according to a 2012 study published in the journal of Wilderness & Environmental Medicine, including cats, cows, horses, pigs, raccoons, and other hoofed livestock. Another 1,400 people were killed by venomous plants, scorpions, wasps, or bees during that time. “Squirrels aren’t among those listed,” a CDC spokesman told me. “It’s more snakes, spiders, and a few more common things.” The Atlantic article concludes: "Squirrels mostly don’t bother people, let alone maim them. But they are everywhere, and that’s not always a good thing for humans. Then again, you might say the same thing about people if you were a squirrel." Gorgeous tulips in the garden last week. Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca