Re: OT -(Was peony) Squirrel
From: Haggstroms <hagg@alaska.net>
Glenn Simmons wrote:
> We live inside the city limits so it is against the law to
> discharge a firearm of course so what are we
> supposed to do about the ever increasing squirrel population?
> Does anyone have any idea what we need to do about this
> problem other than cutting our trees down?
Dear Glenn -
I'm not sure of the regulations in your town, so I'm not sure how to advise you
exactly, so I'll offer the two methods I use in town (I just shoot the destructive
ones that move in too close at my homestead, and then eat them, as it's a shame to
waste them).
They are easy to catch on a snare pole set up between two trees, high off the
ground. They are an animal which will use regular paths, following scent trails. If
you're interested in that, I can send you instructions off-list.
The other method involves poisoned bait, again set in a tree where only the
squirrels will be able to access it. One usually uses a "varmit" poison, available
through country/hunting/trapping type stores.
I suppose there are "kinder, gentler" ways, but they are usually ineffective, and
not humane in the long run. Most animals, squirrels included, have territories, and
if you live-trap them for the purpose of relocating them, you will nearly always
move your own problem onto the shoulders of the people living in the area to which
you relocate the squirrel. But usually the result is even worse than that -
oftentimes they are killed by their own species, when they are dumped in the
already occupied territory of another squirrel family. Even if you don't SEE
squirrels in the area, if it is an area that can support this animal, it means they
are there. Otherwise, if it is barren of squirrel, it probably means the introduced
squirrel will have a difficult time finding food, and will usually end up starving
to death. So elimination is actually the most humane way of dealing with this sort
of problem.
Kathy Haggstrom
Anchorage, AK USA
hagg@alaska.net
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