A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2003 Why all the squirrels?

Why are we dealing with this modern day scourage? It's very simple... humans have upset the balance of nature!
We feed them (right Diane! We give them nice lush homes where they can dig and chew with impunity.
Where are their predators (the bobcat,the wolf,the hawk, the eagle,the panther, the fox)? They still have predators (cars, disease, and ME!!!), for sure,but in small numbers. Many predators are now extinct.
Take the Red Wolf for example. It is native to the South, but is very endangered.
Check this out if u want to hear it howl!!
http://www.outer-banks.com/alligator-river/redwolf.html

Think you need to go to Bills and grab some of his wildlife. Maybe a bear or two while your at it. You know all your neighbors probably have cats and dogs and they scare all the squirrels to your house where they THINK they are "safe". That is what is happening at my moms house. She is surrounded by properties with dogs and she does not have one so they have a fun time there especially making holes in the embankment. They do have redtail hawks and thank goodness because they have rattlesnakes as well. You could get a HUNTING CAT!!!! Catlover

Karen, on the contrary i'm not alone, my neighbors are also shooting squirrels. I have one fellow up the road that shot over 100 in the last 12 months, and another neighbor that has shot about 25 in the past month. In one year i've probably shot 75. Despite these numbers, the squirrels keep coming! People don't realize how many squirrels there are! In the city of Greenville, they are EVERYWHERE!!! One friend of my wife said that the squirrels were chewing on the siding of her house. When they run out of food, they can be serious pests. Not only that... they are rodents. I have read that they have been documented invading bird nests, eating bird eggs. I just wonder, with so many squirrels, if we are eventually going to read about some disease outbreak caused by these "bushy-tailed" rats.

I agree with Bob....they are nasty little things....A few years ago I even went squirrel hunting with my husband...I didn't hunt, just went along and kept quiet and pointed them out...It is just like deer, a lot of women are against hunting because the deer are so cute, pretty, etc.....Around here if you don't keep the population down they are laying ever 100 ft along the side of the road dead....it isn't like squirrels are going to become extinct any time soon.....The population needs to be kept down or they will be overtaking us!!! Where I live it is pretty rural though and we have critters like squirrels and such in abundance.....

I'm all for getting rid of the pests. I really hate killing animals but I did put up a squirrel trap with bait. Really don't like that slow and agonizing death that it puts them through. Much prefer the instant death. Worked in a vet hospital for many years and had to put many animals down but it was quick. My cats bring in the gophers and such and if they are alive at all I go grab the hammer and put a quick end to it. Have to get off this subject it makes me tooooo sad. Catlover

Well Karen, how do u kill the squirrels after trapping them...
Do u drop the entire cage into a tub of water...

No silly it is a BAIT trap. They wind around inside eat the bait and sometimes take it some back to their nest where others eat it and DIE underground!!!! Good compost after awhile. Don't like it but must be done. GRRrrrrr went to my cactus garden and now there is a mole. My mom has a device with a sharp point on the end you stick in the ground with gopher bait. You probe til you find the trail and inject it right into the run. VERY toxic stuff though. If you have a dog that digs forget it. NO BOB WIPE THAT THOUGHT COMPLETELY OUT OF YOUR MIND... NOT GOING TO USE IT ON YOUR NEIGHBORS DOG!!!! Have to go borrow the device today. If it kills my cactus I am going to dig the whole property til I get the sucker!!!!! :p Catlover Karen