Posted on 03/26/2018 4:50:14 PM PDT by Kaslin
RUSH: I found something that just struck me funny. There’s a story that has nothing to do with anything. It’s in the San Diego Union Tribune. Apparently they’ve got a giant squirrel problem in the public parks in San Diego. Now, I happen to like squirrels, but every time squirrels come up I have a bunch of people start shouting, “They’re nothing but tree rats. They’re nothing but rats with PR. They’re just rats. What do you mean, you like squirrels?”
Well, it goes back to when I was a kid. My mom would actually open one of the windows on our breakfast nook and start banging two peanuts together, and the squirrels would come up, and she would give them to the squirrels. And one of them was a red squirrel, looked like a fox. And she would sit there, “Come on little squirrel,” and they’d all come trooping up, and she’d give them some peanuts and they’d walk away.
They’re on the second floor. They’re on a ledge, second floor, they’d climb down the house. And I’ve always thought they were cute, but people said, “They’re nothing but tree rats. How in the world can you say you like squirrels?”
Well, anyway in San Diego they got a problem ’cause apparently a lot of other people think they’re cute and they’ve started feeding them. And they’ve turned ’em into a bunch of welfare recipients. Feeding the squirrels contributes to their overpopulation.
“‘The main problem is they get tons of food from people,’ said Darren Smith, a natural resources officer in the San Diego region of the state Department of Parks and Recreation. ‘There is the culture of providing extra food for them, and that’s what makes the population grow so much,’ he said.”
And then this. “Too many squirrels become a nuisance. They quickly grow dependent on handouts, lose their fear of humans.” And so they hang around with people. And he says that the squirrels are now showing up in picnic areas looking for food. And then there’s this quote: “They bother people,” said Darren Smith. “Sometimes, they bite people, and steal their Doritos.”
When I saw “steal their Doritos” I just started cracking up. Of all things to steal, they steal people’s Doritos, the squirrels.
Squirrels are definitely cute.
Rats are scavengers. Squirrels are not. There.
Ah! So they DON’T steal food; they steal Doritos.
My dog killed a squirrel. Just caught him and shook him in his jaws til the poor thing was dead.
My sister lets these squirrels into her home where they chew the electrical cords and scratch everything.
She thinks they’re cute.
I like squirrels (my husband’s Granny, from England, called them ‘Squee-rels’).
But they can become very bold and aggressive if they are used to being fed and then at some point the food is not forthcoming...
Be careful: it’s very unlikely, but *possible*, that a squirrel can carry rabies: I learned this when I encountered one who ‘bit the hand that fed him’ :-)
https://www.whatdosquirrelseat.org/do-squirrels-carry-rabies/
...“They’re nothing but tree rats. They’re nothing but rats with PR. They’re just rats..
Oh, No. They are rats with fancy tails.
Ask her is she thinks hemorrhagic fevers are cute?
Like the Hanta virus.
Maybe we’ll get lucky and they will start a plague out there.
They are edible...
Squirrel bites can carry rabies. No fun.
Squirrel crime will surge!
So squirrels can develop a deadly sense of entitlement. Hmmm...
My sister lets these squirrels into her home where they chew the electrical cords and scratch everything.
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is your sister bat-s**t crazy?
I had a chipmunk that got into our living room while were we were doing some remodeling. Three days it took us to get him out. He had water in the kitchen, dog food and lots of places to hide. Heck, he had a new habitat which he adapted to with no problems.
Depends on what you mean by "scavenger". I've seen a squirrel devour live baby birds - emptied the nest right out while fending off the parent birds' attacks. Like a 3-D horror film, right outside the picture window.
I'd seen predators kill before, but something about that scene with the squirrel was much worse.
Squirrels are just rats with better PR
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