Originally, I thought the squirrels that formed the Expanding Legion of Evil (ELoE) were born and bred right here in my town. That may be true for the originals from the very beginning of this past spring. However, over the last several weeks, the boy and I have observed never before seen adult squirrels making incursions inside our borders.
I have a theory now as to where they are coming from, which may perhaps include the originals from the beginning of the assaults. They have come from foreign lands by forced expulsion. That is correct. These are non-native squirrels to our town.
You see, over the years there have been many squirrels in and around our yard and they have been largely benign. Yes, I know that the bird feeders are new this year. However, the assaults did not start from the first moment the feeders went up. Also, there is plenty of fodder for them the gather and eat, without having to go through the pains of getting on the feeders and being chased away repeatedly.
Rural and semi-rural squirrels behave in a more natural or wild manor generally when it comes to food gathering. They will pull nuts and berries off of trees and bushes, access targets of opportunity that require no great expenditure of energy, such as spilt birdfeed on the ground or nuts left out for them. Such as Ginger, the orange tipped black squirrel. Not once did I see her on any of the feeders. She just feed on the ground from what was spilt by the birds or my loading up the feeders. She has also been here for the past two summers, although I have not seen her in recent weeks.
The other squirrels would repeatedly climb on to the feeders and then run a short distance away when shooed, either on the ground or in the trees, usually the trees. Now they run at the sight of me in the window. Except, when I see ones I have not encountered before. It normally takes two or three days for most of them to flee in my presence and by then or as much as five days of interaction with me, they flee far and wide or are often gone from these parts.
So, who are these new squirrels that I have never seen before and have been coming in a trickle, especially the last few weeks? They are not babies or juveniles. I am quite certain they are city squirrels. They behave like city squirrels, not country squirrels.
What the hell is this guy talking about?
Well, let me tell you.
City squirrels are so very used to easy meals. Why look for nuts and berries on the trees and shrubs, when there is all this stuff in miniature outdoor grocery stores: bird feeders, and yes, even squirrel feeders. When I lived in the city, I had a crew of grey squirrels that I somehow worked out an agreement with. I would provide them with nuts and seeds and they would not tear my garden apart. They also chased away interlopers, primarily really stupid and aggressive black squirrels. It was a tidy arrangement.
Now, normally, in rural areas, no such brokering of deals is necessary. There is plenty of food and territory and the squirrels and chipmunks, and skunks, and such, keep to themselves and are generally wise enough to stay away from people and their contraptions.
City squirrels on the other hand are surrounded by people and all their nature paraphernalia and are constantly loosing natural sources of food and shelter. Naturally these cunning rodents will raid feeders and move in to garages and attics. That is often their "nature" now.
Again you ask, what the hell is this guy talking about?
Well, basically, urban and rural animals often behave differently. This easily applies to the likes of squirrels. Rural squirrels when either suspecting danger or in fact are in what they perceive is peril, will flee horizontally. That is, making distance between them and the threat. It also gives them the option to continue to flee as there is further ground to flee along. Yes, of course these hillbilly squirrels often climb in to trees, but observe them, they will still move horizontally from three to tree or if need be, flee along the ground.
Urban squirrels flee vertically. They are just getting out of reach; that is it. Since many urban areas do not have much of a canopy and the fact that urban dwelling humans mostly just shoo away the vermin, they go vertical and wait out the giant pink sacks waving and yelling at them. If one of these sacks does not leave in short order or they continue to wave and shout, the urban squirrel will wait them out or go higher in the tree. Why? Because, there are so many goodies down there and the sacks will eventually leave. Plus, they have gotten lazy, the squirrels not the sacks, but that is probably true for them too. Why work to flee when they know they can come back very shortly and empty that feeder. Then they will move on to the next one, and so on.
What the hell is......
Hang on.....
So, the very first squirrels that began their incursions at Hacienda Rooster general fled horizontally for a short distance, then went vertical. So, it is hard to tell exactly where these guys came from. They may have been an urban/rural alliance and blended their defence tactics.
Now shortly after this all began, I started seeing more and new squirrels, as many as a dozen, even more, at times. Often one squirrel would be on each feeder eating and shovelling seed on to the ground, while their legions gobbled up the windfall. Because there were so many they would scatter and ultimately flee in to the trees and then try to wait me out. I would have to choose which one to drive off. By the time that was done the others would have also fled, but some would come back in short order. These returnees, I am certain are displaced urban squirrels following their usual pattern of going for the easy source.
Funnily enough, it is not so easy often as to placement and often the precarious nature of how some feeders are set up, particularly mine. However, I believe urban squirrels get so habituated to raiding feeders they can no longer stop attacking them even if they are hard to get to. They have evidently lost some of their more natural foraging skills through a loss of habitat and big pink bags opening up self-serve cafeterias.
Since coming back from the Scout Jamboree there are normally between one to three new squirrels every week. The seem to appear sometime on the weekend. Now, here is my theory to the origins of these urban refugee squirrels. Some assclown in the city has had enough of the squirrels around his place for whatever reason and is using cage traps to capture them and is releasing them in the country, where he thinks they will be happier and better off. Well, not around here.
For various reasons, when people do this, they are often not helping these creatures and are often putting a death sentence on them and other animals. If the expulsion works at all. Some animals that are caught in traps and moved, such as skunks and raccoons have been known to return right back to where they were captured. They have been known to travel easily as much as 20-25 km (12-16 mi); sometimes they may even travel as much as 40 km (25 mi).
Why would they do that? Well, that is their home. That is where they live. That is their territory. They know how things work there. They want to be at home and many will try to get back. My brother many years ago was expanding his house, not extending, expanding! His roof was taking forever to finish so it was fairly easy for animals to get in if they wanted. So, one day he discovers a raccoon in the new, but yet unfinished, attic space. He used a cage trap, caught and released it in a nearby conservation area. Then he caught another. Then another. For some reason, he was driving further out each time, he never explained why. But he told me one day that he had caught over twenty raccoons. I had done some research about this for some reason, who knows why. I told him that most likely he had not caught over twenty raccoons, but had caught the same raccoon over twenty times. He argued with me and told me that the last few had been taken out over twenty kilometres away. I explained what I knew. He was surprised in the least. The raccoon(s) only finally went away when the house was finished and sealed.
Another example of homing. Not long ago I was working at a gas station as a pump jockey extraordinaire. One day a truck pulls up for gas and there is a large box, or if you will, a cage shaped item, with a blanket over it. First thing I asked: What did you guys catch and is it still alive. Oh, a skunk from the back of my property, the third one in the last week or so. Really? Yup. You know it is probably the same skunk you have caught each time. No way, I drive it out at least 15-20 kilometres in to the bush. Yup, they will come back even over 25 kilometres sometimes. No way, I don't believe it. That's fine, see you in a couple of days with the next "new" skunk you catch. He went in to get something to drink and his buddy says to me: You know I think you're right; this guy (the skunk, not the trapper) seems to know the routine. He is not freaking out or anything, last time he was sleeping in the cage. I never saw them again though. I fear that skunk may very well had an untimely demise.
One thing that I do inform people of when they say they will trap and release whatever pest animal it is, is that first most municipalities have a by-law that will not let you displace an animal more than one kilometre from where it has been captured. Obviously, dangerous, or potentially dangerous, animals such as bears and coyotes must be moved further. Different situation, different by-laws and laws. There are various reasons why you cannot move them further than that. Many, if not most will come back. You are damaging the natural environment by removing an animal out of its native habitat. Those that do not return to their original territory can harm their new environment by displacing or killing other animals that otherwise would not have been affected. They also may spread diseases that are not native to their new environment damaging it in that way. If they do attempt to return home, they may also spread disease in their travels, or even pick up new diseases and spread them through their journey and introduce it to their home environment.
So, I am pretty sure these squirrels are coming from Ottawa. I am also pretty sure as to where they are being dumped. There is a road that ends near the top of my little street that used to be a "semi-major" rural highway. It is still used for commuting in to the city. Its northern terminus is right in the heart of Ottawa, it also connects to several other major urban roads. City people often drive down this road toward, into, and through my town for country drives or to go to farmers' markets and the like. So, I think this urban assclown had had enough of his city squirrels, but could not bring himself to exterminate them, regardless of the fact that I am quite certain that that is illegal. So, he had the brilliant idea of capturing them in a cage trap and releasing them in to the country. Hey, it'll be better for them anyway, he probably thought. Remember this guy is an assclown. I can picture exactly where he is dropping them off, on or beside the bridge at the end of the road. Also, most likely in a clouseau-esque fashion.
What he does not realise is all the above mentioned possible repercussions. Ginger may very well be gone due to disease or displacement plus the other original squirrels from this immediate area are most likely gone as well. These guys were crazier than crap-house rats, but they were entertaining and stayed out of my stuff. I have not noticed them for weeks either.
Now these latest new squirrels, which always appear on weekends (including this past one) are often gone in under a week. I do not know if they are dying from disease, accident (country people tend not to swerve around little animals, but will just keep driving straight, sometimes they will swerve - if the little critter runs out of the path of the vehicle that is), have moved on, or have hopefully returned back home with the new skill sets they have learnt out here in the "country" and are driving this urban assclown absolutely nutty.
I will tell you one thing. If I ever see this knob releasing squirrels near my town, I will follow him home, get his address, and then I will get a truck load of nuts, berries, and seeds and dump them in his yard. That'll learn 'im!! blbbl
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