REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

New Terror Threat: SQUIRRELS!

POSTED BY: FREMDFIRMA
UPDATED: Monday, October 18, 2010 15:06
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Saturday, October 16, 2010 6:12 AM

FREMDFIRMA



Yet another suicide attack on local infrastructure by a minion of the furry horde!

Panic, disorder, chaos!
(Ok, maybe not..)

Squirrel knocks out power for 4,000 customers in Ann Arbor
http://www.annarbor.com/news/squirrel-knocks-out-power-for-4000-custom
ers-in-ann-arbor
/

The comments after the story are fekkin hi-larious.

-Frem

I do not serve the Blind God.

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Saturday, October 16, 2010 6:27 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...


You're right, Frem. The comments are witty and refreshing...and obviously you're not the only one who believes in a Squirrel Anarchy existing out there!

To say "the squirrel probably died" is interesting...if they didn't see it, how did they know it was a squirrel? Rats love to explore, invade and chew on things, too. I'm suspicious.

My first thought, of course, upon reading the title was "awww, poor squirrel!" Shows you my bias, don't it? No consideration for the humans inconvenienced, which I would rationalize as "well, humans depend on power, which they pollute to create, so screw 'em being inconvenienced". What can I say, I'm an animal bigot.

Squirrels may well get up after that "thump thump" and "run" away, but it's shock more often than not and they do die afterwards. I rescued a squirrel hit by a car one day who had "jumped up and run away". On my motorcycle; required riding the bike to the bottom of the hill and walking back. Picked him up (with motorcycle gloves, I KNOW they bite!) and the little fucker bit right through the gloves! He turned out to have a broken back and Wildcare euthanized him.

How can an animal with a broken back jump up and run away? Shock...doesn't mean the don't die when the shock that gave them super-squirrel strenth wears off. Squirrels don't survive suicide attacks, or just plain stupidity, when it comes to cars (unless you only run over their tails!).


Hippie Operative Nikovich Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
Contracted Agent of Veritas Oilspillus, code name “Nike”,
signing off




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Saturday, October 16, 2010 6:42 AM

WHOZIT


Squirrels will be the cause of the end of the world in 2012, I'm sure Keith Olbermann will be all over this......and he's stupid.




Those arn't boobs, they're lies! - Stewie Griffin

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Saturday, October 16, 2010 4:56 PM

WISHIMAY


I read an article recently about people with cars made after 2002 having their wiring chewed up by bunnies when in an airport long term parking lot...Supposedly that's when they started making soy based wiring, or somesuch. Not a problem for us, as we drive POS's...

Also, we used to raise bunnies for grub when I was a kid and mom always called them hoppin' chickens so as not to upset us, but I always knew...

Not squirrel related, but cute little annoying critter related...

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Saturday, October 16, 2010 5:03 PM

FREMDFIRMA



The hilarious thing about it was local DepHomeSec actually brought up in a meeting the "rodent threat to infrastructure" - goddamn you couldn't make some of this up if ya tried!

But then this isn't the first time the furry horde has levelled its sights on our power grid.

Squirrel causes major campus power outage
http://www.michigandaily.com/content/squirrel-causes-major-campus-powe
r-outage


Suicide squirrels driving utilities nuts
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-03-11-suicide-squirrels_N.htm

Our Power Installation got Squirreled
http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2006/12/06/our-power-install
ation-got-squirreled
/


Hee hee heee!!

Of course, that'll pale in comparison when our gene splicers manage to give cats thumbs, cause then you're REALLY screwed, ya shaved apes!

THERE WILL BE FEAR AMONGST THE FURLESS!

-Frem

I do not serve the Blind God.

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Sunday, October 17, 2010 7:36 AM

PENGUIN








King of the Mythical Land that is Iowa

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Sunday, October 17, 2010 7:51 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...


I love our squirrels...they raided the bird feeder so much I put out a squirrel feeder right next to it. When the kitchen door is open, we can walk right in and watch one of them...a little red guy who was obviously this year's litter. He's "grokked" that we're not a threat, so is the only one who won't scamper away on the wires, but will instead sit there and look at us, decide whether we're coming out or not, and go right on eating his sunflower seeds. Neat to see at least one who's bright enough to figure it out.

The only irritant is that they've begun to go after the bird feeder again (especially in Spring, when there are both grey and red young), and the bird food is more expensive! Not only that, both they and the birds totally ignore the peanuts in the mix...talk about spoiled!!!

And yes, rabbits are FAMOUS for chewing on wires...I had five dwarf rabbits at one time, and you couldn't let them near ANY kind of wires, the impulse was so strong!


Hippie Operative Nikovich Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
Contracted Agent of Veritas Oilspillus, code name “Nike”,
signing off




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Sunday, October 17, 2010 1:01 PM

CHRISISALL


Quote:

Originally posted by Fremdfirma:




Funny ha ha, but did you know that squirrels dashing across the roads account for 2,000,000 fatalities each YEAR?!?!?!?!?


It's, like, squirrel fatalities, but still...


The laughing Chrisisall


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Monday, October 18, 2010 6:53 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...


Not a very good campaign, if you take out as many of your own folk as you do the enemy, seems to me... But I won't argue it might not be a conspiracy of some sort... I'm just not sure WHAT sort!

Any sortie of squirrels sent out to chew power lines and any contingent sent out to cause auto accidents is gonna lose every member, so it's not the best strategy I can think of. Then again, they breed like rabbits, so maybe it's a long-term strategy?

For your amusement, I offer:



Tho' they ARE presistent, I'll grant you that...




Hippie Operative Nikovich Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
Contracted Agent of Veritas Oilspillus, code name “Nike”,
signing off




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Monday, October 18, 2010 10:35 AM

FREMDFIRMA



Ha, too funny, the ones around here are all fat and lazy since they have some kinda deal goin with the maintenance staff, they follow the one guy around, even.

Speakin of local wildlife, seems that the puppy that's been hanging out back in the woods on the other side of the complex ain't a puppy at all.

Coyotes on the rise in suburbs
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20101018/NEWS05/101803
22/1322/Coyotes-on-the-rise-in-suburbs&template=fullarticle


Of course, he ain't no threat anyhow, only comes out at night and doesn't come too close, but imma keep an eye out just in case.

Of course, if I start seeing empty ACME shipping containers over there, i'm callin the Road Runner.

-Frem

I do not serve the Blind God.

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Monday, October 18, 2010 11:41 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...


Hee, hee, hee. It was a big shock to me when I read that the two most prevalent URBAN species of wildlife are rats and coyotes! Coyotes being able to subsist in an urban environment, stay hidden, procreate, etc., just blew my mind.
Quote:

ON THE LOOSE: URBAN COYOTES THRIVE IN NORTH AMERICAN CITIES

COLUMBUS , Ohio – Even in the largest American cities, a historically maligned beast is thriving, despite scientists' belief that these mammals intently avoid urban human populations.

This animal's amazing ability to thrive in metropolitan areas has greatly surprised scientists, says Stanley Gehrt, an assistant professor of environmental and natural resources at Ohio State University. Gehrt is in the sixth year of a multi-year study of coyote behavior in urban Chicago.

Since the study began, Gehrt and his colleagues have found that urban coyote populations are much larger than expected; that they live longer than their rural cousins in these environments; and that they are more active at nighttime than coyotes living in rural areas.

Coyotes also do some good – they help control rapidly growing populations of Canada geese throughout North America.

And while his coyote research is concentrated in Chicago , the results likely apply to most major metropolitan areas in North America . Gehrt has even seen a pack of about a dozen on Ohio State 's campus in Columbus .

The study began in Chicago in 2000 when Gehrt was a research biologist for the Max McGraw Wildlife Foundation in Dundee , Ill. In the 1990s the foundation was increasingly inundated with complaints about coyotes taking pets and reportedly stalking children.

The number of calls grew, and in the late 1990s the Cook County Animal Control agency asked Gehrt to gather information on coyote populations in metropolitan Chicago .

The study was only supposed to last for a year.

“Nine million people live in the greater Chicago area,” said Gehrt, who is also a wildlife extension specialist at Ohio State . “We didn't think very many coyotes could thrive in such a highly urbanized area. We also thought that the few animals that were causing problems were probably used to living around people.”

The problem with studying coyotes in general is that the animals are incredibly difficult to catch. They quickly learn how to avoid traps. But Gehrt and his colleagues distributed their traps widely throughout the greater Chicago area and successfully caught several animals. They put radio-tagged collars on the captured coyotes and then let them go.

The original estimates of the greater Chicago coyote population were woefully low. The researchers had expected to find a few small coyote packs here and there throughout the city, with total population numbers in the range of several dozen. But the animals were everywhere.

“We couldn't find an area in Chicago where there weren't coyotes,” Gehrt said. “They've learned to exploit all parts of their landscape.”

Since the beginning of the study, the researchers have caught and tagged more than 200 coyotes. They estimate that there may be somewhere between several hundred and a couple thousand coyotes living in Chicago .

Some of the animals live in city parks, while others live among apartment and commercial buildings and in industrial parks.

The funding agency, Cook County Animal Control and Conservation Medicine Coalition, renews the study every year because the researchers keep finding results that surprise them. This spring, Gehrt will publish the first round of papers from the last six years' worth of research.

Researchers found that, in Chicago , the annual population growth of Canada geese was reduced to an average of 1 to 2 percent per year, down from the 10 to 20 percent growth rates of a few years ago. Also, while coyotes can clean out several goose nests in one night, they don't actually eat all of the eggs. Rather, they usually carry the eggs away from the nest and bury them, saving the eggs until later, Gehrt said.

Coyotes prefer to hunt alone, but often form packs to defend territories. Gehrt estimates that roughly half of all urban coyotes live in territorial packs that consist of five to six adults and their pups that were born that year. These urban packs establish territories of about five to 10 square miles – a fraction of the area that a rural coyote pack would cover. Consequently, the population densities in the urban area are usually three to six times higher than rural populations. Those urban coyotes that don't hunt in packs can cover ranges of 50 square miles or more, often in just one night. “The first solitary coyote we tracked covered five adjacent cities in a single night,” Gehrt said.

“A coyote may eat the food that's left outside for a pet,” Gehrt said. “It's not uncommon to see a coyote pass through an urban or suburban neighborhood.

“But most coyotes aren't thrilled about being seen by people,” he continued. “Urban coyotes are more active at night than their rural counterparts, so humans don't see a lot of their activity. In many cases, coyotes are probably doing us favors that we don't realize – they eat a lot of rodents and other animals that people don't want around.”

http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/urbcoyot.htm

I first learned that several years ago, and it blew my mind. I would have thought there would be more raccoons living in urban settings. Then they began showing up around here, and with so much land protected, ours definitely don't avoid humans. Jim sees them frequently, as do other people who walk their dogs up on the Divide. Tashi actually approached a couple two or three times...they all sniffed him, he sniffed them, and that was that. Of course, he's 75 lbs...if he'd been a chihuahua, I think the result might have been different... :biggin: I find it endlessly fascinating--imagine a coyote living in an industrial park!!
Quote:

When coyotes snarl and bark, yelp and howl just a few yards from your front door, the chills go straight to the base of your spine. I've seen this pack roam the city streets near my house. It's just a few miles from downtown Phoenix, and a few feet from a desert park. Darren Julian, who tracks urban wildlife for the Arizona Game and Fish Department, says this area is a sanctuary for urban coyotes.

Here, "coyotes and other wild animals have a place to escape and not be bothered," Julian says. "[They'll] hide under many of these creosote bushes or paloverde trees, but then go find food sources in your yard."

Julian says a pack of coyotes can claim up to 3 square miles of territory. Sometimes the only evidence of their existence is a hairy pile of scat left behind in some alleyway. They hide in overgrown yards. They den in oleander hedge rows and prowl the streets looking for colonies of feral cats to munch on.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=105385196

I'd love to know if they live in SF. I'll bet they do...it's a huge city, but connected to a peninsula with a lot of protected lands, so they've probably migrated in. Can't find any stories about it, tho'.

Ooops, I spoke too soon:
Quote:

Animal Care and Control officials in San Francisco have a few words for people who have spotted coyotes recently in Golden Gate Park and Bernal Heights: "We know."

And: "Don't feed them."

And: "No, they won't eat your kids."

Well, they're not likely to.

Nearly every day, Guldbech said, her office has been getting calls -- and e-mails, and more calls -- from folks both excited and scared about the small, skittish canines.

Recently, the calls have become increasingly frantic, Guldbech said, prompting her to speak out in the hope that San Franciscans and their new neighbors can coexist peacefully.

"For whatever reason, they are here," she said, noting that all of the surrounding counties are home to the animals. "If we don't domesticate them, they probably will move on. If people leave out dog and cat food, they will keep eating it and they will not hunt. And when I say hunt, I don't mean -- they are not going to eat your child -- I mean wild rabbits, ducks in the park."

Because coyotes do sometimes hunt cats and small dogs, animal officials suggest feeding pets indoors and bringing in small animals around dusk and at night, prime hunting time. For those in Bernal Heights and near Golden Gate Park, they also recommend securing trash cans with a fastening lid or bungee cord.

There have been reports of coyotes in the Presidio and Bernal Heights for a few years now, but it wasn't until about six months ago that officials began receiving calls about coyotes in Golden Gate Park, Guldbech said. Wildlife officials now believe there are one or two coyotes living in the park, and at least one residing on Bernal Hill. In all, she said, four or five probably call San Francisco home.

Guldbech assures callers that the local coyotes have never shown any aggressive behavior. But that's about all officials know about them. They aren't sure why they are here now, or where they came from.

Officials are not considering trapping, killing, spaying, neutering or in any way bothering the coyotes unless they do become aggressive toward people, Guldbech said. In fact, feeding, harassing or injuring the canines is illegal, though officials do suggest making loud noises or spraying them with a hose if they are frequenting residential areas.

Most of the more freaked-out calls have been coming from the park, she said. In Bernal Heights, by contrast, neighbors have adopted their local coyote as a sort of pet.

Sharon Beals, who lives in Potrero Hill but walks on Bernal Hill in the early mornings, said she has been seeing a coyote there for about two years now. Beals believes someone is feeding the animal.

The first time she saw the small wild dog, Beals said, she was "completely fascinated, awestruck, honored."

Kick in the head. Typical San Franciscan attitude! This was back in 2007, so there's no doubt a healthy population by now. That they were first in the Presidio makes perfect sense...it's the largest urban national park in the country. Over here in Marin, we've been given the same advice, and they won't eradicate them here either, which I appreciate.

I just think it's neat.

Now I'm finding more and more stuff. One guy did a book on "Myca", who lives on Twin Peaks, with tons and tons of photos. I'm having fun...




Hippie Operative Nikovich Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
Contracted Agent of Veritas Oilspillus, code name “Nike”,
signing off




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Monday, October 18, 2010 3:06 PM

DREAMTROVE


Oh no! This is tragic! The poor little guy.

We have a group of young squirrels here, they were born outside the window, and they're a foursome of troublemakers. It's curious how you can tell their, um, squirrelinalities, apart pretty quick. There's one who is absolutely fearless. At first he decided only humans could open windows, so other animals were meaningless, but now he's learned that humans opening windows are only putting out seed for birds, and that birds are very messy eaters, and drop at least half the seed.

Comments are good, yes

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Monday, October 18, 2010 3:06 PM

DREAMTROVE


Oh no! This is tragic! The poor little guy.

We have a group of young squirrels here, they were born outside the window, and they're a foursome of troublemakers. It's curious how you can tell their, um, squirrelinalities, apart pretty quick. There's one who is absolutely fearless. At first he decided only humans could open windows, so other animals were meaningless, but now he's learned that humans opening windows are only putting out seed for birds, and that birds are very messy eaters, and drop at least half the seed.

Comments are good, yes

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