Sad happening in my neighborhood today
Sep 16, 2021 11:40:59 #
For the last few years, we've had a pair of squirrels running around my neighborhood. I enjoyed watching them cavort and my little dog loved to bark and growl at them. On our morning walk today we saw that one of the squirrels had been hit and was lying dead on the edge of the road just a couple hundred feet from my house. Just a few minutes ago, I took the dog out for a pee and saw the remaining squirrel in my neighbor's yard. Literally as I was typing this message, the squirrel ran thru my yard.
I don't know if squirrels in this situation will take up with a new mate or not, but I am hoping it will.
I don't know if squirrels in this situation will take up with a new mate or not, but I am hoping it will.
Sep 16, 2021 12:14:39 #
Sep 16, 2021 12:17:23 #
azted
Loc: Las Vegas, NV.
Yes, roadkill is a serious issue. I do feel bad for your neighborhood, but there is just so much crap going on in the world that I am starting to feel numb. Just reading the newspaper can make me wonder who poisoned the brains of the smartest people we used to look up to! So the squirrel death rate is one I have to pass on! Sorry.......
Sep 16, 2021 12:32:17 #
Sep 16, 2021 12:49:03 #
jackm1943 wrote:
For the last few years, we've had a pair of squirr... (show quote)
Sad for the critter itself but not an endangered species. Most mammals are promiscuous. But many bird species mate as a couple for life.
Sep 16, 2021 12:58:09 #
jackm1943 wrote:
For the last few years, we've had a pair of squirr... (show quote)
It seems like a small thing to many, but I do understand. We've had two squirrels living in our trees in the backyard for several years. At around 9:30 in the morning, I can hear them running across the bedroom roof to get to a tree on the side of the house on their way to the front yard to hunt for whatever they hunt. We've watched them sit on branches munching pecans. They may be "only squirrels," "tree rodents," or whatever. But they do, in fact, become more than that, don't they? They're our bit of urban nature.
Sep 16, 2021 13:10:31 #
Reminds me of when our neighbor adopted some baby squirrels after mama got run over. Don't do it! Those critters came to associate people with food and would climb right up your leg to try to get a hand-out. I suspect they had short lives since they were lacking the normal fear of things human that protects most squirrels in the wild.
Sep 16, 2021 14:43:40 #
If it helps I can assure you, if you saw two, there are more, maybe a lot more.
Squirrels, other than in a protected area like a yard or park, generally do not come out in the open much. They try to stay in the trees and brush. They only spend a lot of time on the ground to get from one tree to another if they can't just jump from one to another or for a trip to a food or water source. They are on the menu for too many things, hawks, owls etc.
Even in my back yard where they raid the bird feeders they are always ready to duck and cover because we have hawks in the area.
Even in urban areas the "bold" ones do not usually live to be "old and bold".
Squirrels, other than in a protected area like a yard or park, generally do not come out in the open much. They try to stay in the trees and brush. They only spend a lot of time on the ground to get from one tree to another if they can't just jump from one to another or for a trip to a food or water source. They are on the menu for too many things, hawks, owls etc.
Even in my back yard where they raid the bird feeders they are always ready to duck and cover because we have hawks in the area.
Even in urban areas the "bold" ones do not usually live to be "old and bold".
Sep 16, 2021 15:43:50 #
It's obvious that some of the people in this post need to get a life. WHAT are you thinking??? Nature is a rough place to live in! Happens hundreds of thousands of times a day. Every day! All over the world! 365 days a year! Oh wait, was this intended as a joke?
Sep 16, 2021 16:39:25 #
Retired CPO wrote:
It's obvious that some of the people in this post need to get a life. WHAT are you thinking??? Nature is a rough place to live in! Happens hundreds of thousands of times a day. Every day! All over the world! 365 days a year! Oh wait, was this intended as a joke?
Petty, petty, petty!!
Sep 16, 2021 17:07:38 #
Squirrels are territorial. If you remove a squirrel from an area, another will move in to claim the territory.
A guy I knew a few years ago was having trouble with squirrels chewing up things they shouldn't. He shot 12 squirrels one week. The next week he had the same number of squirrels as he had previously.
A guy I knew a few years ago was having trouble with squirrels chewing up things they shouldn't. He shot 12 squirrels one week. The next week he had the same number of squirrels as he had previously.
Sep 16, 2021 17:20:16 #
SteveR wrote:
Petty, petty, petty!!
They are food for predators, or in this case car tires! What's petty about that? It's the way the world works, like it or not! We were too until we developed enough to learn how to compensate for a lack of speed, strength, and fangs by making weapons.
Sep 16, 2021 18:22:27 #
Retired CPO wrote:
They are food for predators, or in this case car tires! What's petty about that? It's the way the world works, like it or not! We were too until we developed enough to learn how to compensate for a lack of speed, strength, and fangs by making weapons.
Well for one, my response was supposed to be a humorous response on your title. Second, ARE being petty. So what if squirrels are low on the food chain? Many people enjoy watching various animals. We have a pair that were born in our backyard. You tend to watch their comings and goings. In fact, people have even photographed the critters and put their pictures in the Gallery!!! The BBC made a great series about a bunch of Meerkats. Not much different than squirrels, and, yes, death was a part of it.
Sep 17, 2021 00:38:46 #
I enjoy watching them and photographing them too. I think they are pretty cool animals too. So do the animals that eat them, I'm sure. I've eaten them!
Sep 17, 2021 07:32:23 #
Squirrels have done a lot of costly damage to condos in our neighborhood. Getting into attics etc, and chewing wiring and actually walls.
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