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Gugusse the Red Squirrel (32)
NinaM
![Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 801 W: 3 N: 2100]](http://i1.treknature.com/misc/g-n-g.gif) (6594) | Hello,
About two weeks ago I saw on television a "documentary" on a group of people in England who were fighting against the grey squirrels in order to give back the territories to the red squirrels due to their decline, caused by a virus carried by grey squirrels. This group is funded by a rich man, a "Lord" in UK, and they use any means to get rid of the grey squirrels, which means trapping them and hitting them on the head, even killing them with rifles. The name of this group is called "Red Squirrel Protection Partnership" and they have a website including a forum! You can go to their site and see for yourself... They clearly state in it to kill the grey squirrels.
I stopped watching the program when I saw some men get out of a truck or a jeep, carrying rifles and talking to the camera about the killing of the grey squirrels. One of them said that people thought they were extremist but that we couldn't figure out the amplitude of the decline of the red squirrels. I switched channels and thought it was horrific and at the same time so strange to go and kill such small animals. What's that? Go hunt for real! I didn't really make a case of it until Deborah (Debz) here on TrekNature posted a photo of a grey squirrel entitled "Lunch". I told her about this and she was horrified. When I searched the Internet to find the name of the group in question, I realized that the squirrels in UK are declining and that people gather to where some of them still live in order to take their pictures. I also found out that they were protected and that many many groups and organizations were there for their protection. I saw a picture of a group of people, all with their cameras, taking pictures of a small squirrel eating peanuts, somewhere on an island where there are still 200 red squirrels. I'll tell you, it was a very funny sight for me as I didn't know red squirrels were declining in UK and that they are found here in Canada and the northern part of the States.
It made me smile because here, in Quebec, we have so many of them. The red ones, the grey ones, black ones. They live in parks all over the place or like here in St-Alphonse, in the forest or where maple trees grow (érablière) and they are spreaded to all northern Canada, up to the arctic tundra. I read that in the forest they eat some cones and they even hang mushrooms to dry them in order to eat them! I have seen Gugusse on the maple tree licking the sweet water (sap) coming out from the tree at spring. They live about 3 or 4 years in the wild. They're also considered by many people to be little rats and they don't really have a good reputation: they chew electrical wires, cause damages to the trees, etc. I used to feed them in a park in Montreal and people would look at me suspiciously ;-) No no, that was more because I also fed pigeons and walked with one on my arm...
And please, let me introduce to you to this little squirrel, Gugusse, he lives here in the trees around our house, he comes and eats peanuts, sunflowers seeds and all the like, he mates at spring, little squirrels are born and the whole cycle comes back every year. He lives here with another one, probably a female. It's very hard to know if they're always the same couple or if the babies stay and the parents leave. Anyways, I've lived here for 6 years now and there's always been a couple around. They run real fast in the trees, as if highways of some kind were there and they would always use the same path. They yell all day long as soon as something scare them and they get scared of everything they see: me, my boyfriend, the cats, the birds, anything moving. Once, a little female with her mammals filled with milk, was looking at me and stomping the ground with her little feet, holding her breast because it must have hurt her! What a sight!
Hope you enjoyed the story of the squirrels living here as I do enjoy it very much to live with them full time now!
LONG LIFE TO ALL SQUIRRELS!
Francine |
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