Re: "Please, oh, please don't save the squirrels" (letters, Dec. 27).
As education director at the St. Francis Wildlife rehabilitation center, I frequently hear from people who, like letter writer Betty Simon, are frustrated by these little animals (yes, rodents are animals, too) who chew on their cedar houses and devour all their bird seed.
Many of us have moved to this area from places like Miami or Tampa, where wall-to-wall malls, bumper-to-bumper traffic, perfectly manicured, postage-stamp yards and heavy doses of chemical pesticides and herbicides have either sent native wildlife scurrying or dramatically shortened their lives. We buy property in lovely areas like Killearn, Chaires or SouthWood for the quiet streets, good schools, pristine lakes and the towering trees that form Tallahassee's signature canopy roads.
Sixteen years ago, my husband and I moved here from Miami. As it turned out, our property hadn't actually belonged to the nice couple to whom we wrote our check. It belonged to the raccoons, opossums, foxes, box turtles, rat snakes, songbirds, red-shouldered hawks, barred owls and squirrels. Lots and lots of squirrels.
All of these wild neighbors have descended from animals who thrived here long before we began carving up our forested town into tidy parcels divided by roads and fences.
Most wild animals are creatures of habit, following long-established trails to their watering, feeding and nesting areas. When someone buys and clears a lot on one of their routes, marooned and desperate wildlife start getting innovative. They venture onto roads, into backyards and sometimes into our houses.
Increased confrontations with humans, vehicles and pets has resulted in a steep increase in the number of injured, orphaned and sick wild animals requiring St. Francis Wildlife's services. In 2004, we rescued more than 3,000 animals, from tiny orphaned baby squirrels and songbirds to deer, foxes and, just last week, a bald eagle.
So, what can we do? Learning about our wild neighbors and what they need to survive often moves us closer to caring about them and ultimately to caring about the habitats that we share with them.
When we moved to Tallahassee, we moved into squirrel habitat, cut up their trees, reassembled them as a lovely cedar house and opened up a fast-food restaurant (birdfeeders). That's what the squirrels saw.
During the summer, mama squirrel began looking for a suitable spot to build a nest. Because we removed the dead trees where she would have preferred to nest, she began eyeing our big, "reassembled cedar tree." A determined squirrel can chew through most any type of wood, if she is so inclined. Cedar shingles? No problem.
My husband climbed up a ladder and smeared some Habanero Hot Sauce on the chewed shingles. The next morning, we listened as she scampered across the roof, took one bite, and then quickly retreated.
The next step was to discourage the squirrels from devouring all the sunflower seed in our birdfeeders. Like Simon, we invested in a so-called squirrel-proof feeder, but it didn't take long before the little acrobats had figured out how to hang from the top of the feeder by their back legs and scoop out the seed without even touching the spring-loaded perch.
We mounted the feeder on a six-foot pole with a baffle "skirt" beneath it and moved it at least eight feet from all objects from which the squirrels could launch themselves. That did it.
Life is tough enough for squirrels. Most won't see their first birthday. There are a lot of hungry hawks, owls, foxes, raccoons, bobcats and snakes out there. Each year, millions of young squirrels are the victims of attacks by free-roaming cats and dogs. Large numbers are killed every year by cars.
And of course, some people, who have no patience for squirrel antics or are afraid of getting rabies, will pick up a gun. But the Tallahassee Police Department says that it is illegal to shoot any animal within city limits. In Florida, squirrels do not carry rabies.
The next time a squirrel helps himself to your birdseed or digs holes in your lawn to store nuts for winter, don't head straight for the trap. Instead, take a moment to appreciate how well the squirrel has adapted to our invasion of its property.
Then move your birdfeeder at least eight feet away from your house and trees, wrap a baffle around the pole, and stock up on hot sauce.
