If Mrs. NoC saw that she would add Squirrel to the list of things that she would not be upset about should they suddenly expire.
Before we moved to the farm she thought Bambi’s and Chip ‘n Dale were cute.. Then we moved here and transplanted most of her roses from the old place. The Bambi’s came through and had some rose hips tea with a side of fresh buds and tender shoots. Now she has no comment should a Bambi or three suddenly suffer irreversible trauma, gut, skin, and butcher itself/themselves, and jump into the freezer..
Then toward fall of that first year on the farm Mrs. NoC planted a bunch of tulip bulbs in anticipation of some spring blooms. The next day she went outside and in the place(es) where there had been a tulip bulb the dirt was disturbed and there on the ground was the brown husk from the tulip bulb(s). The Chip ‘n Dales had ‘harvested’ almost every one. Overnight.
Now she is ok with Chip and Dale and their offspring (umm, wait a minute here, that’s biologically impossible, this isn’t SanFran..) checking into the electronic hotel of eternal rest (looks suspiciously like a Rat Zapper. Googlebing it.)
The little buggers fall for that chunk of walnut every time.. ;-)
Of course, we do have feral cats (two at the moment until the next lowlife drives past with an unwanted pet and says ‘oh look, a farm’ and tosses their kitty out the window) that also serve to keep the rodents of most all sizes in control. Or at least far enough from the house that they don’t bother the pretty stuff.
I think they intentionally don’t eradicate them totally. Gotta have some breeding stock for next year’s munchies and all that.. ;-)
Now all you need is cats big enough to keep the deer population in check.