This morning Police Chief Hacket spoke at the Seleneca Rotary Club’s monthly breakfast at Earthly D’Bites Cafe and explained his concern over the situation with the recent appearance of squirrels at Seleneca. There has been at least one squirrel on the loose since it was first being spotted on July 31st on North Street by numerous people. And just yesterday three Eastern Grey Squirrels were detained by Customs authorities at the cargo section of West Port. Chief Hacket said that the ongoing investigation does not have many leads, and he is hoping that by getting the word out, someone will come forward with more information.
He is hopeful that this not an intentional threat to our habitat by mischievous individuals. Such an act would be seen as a violation of our Code of Being.
The existing squirrel appears from time to time at the 11 O’clock farm, and so far it has not caused any known problems. “The number of people visiting the farm in hopes of catching a glimpse [of the squirrel] and disrupting the work of our farmers has caused more problems than the squirrel itself,” says Boden Bauer, farmer employed by Seleneca’s Office of Food Production. The fear is that the squirrel can get into the numerous utility chases and cause unknown damage that might lead to future catastrophic events.
The fate of the three confiscated squirrels has not been decided upon by the authorities. Concerned citizen Luiz Harpendoerfer suggests that a small zoo be created, saying, “and it can grow as more small animals might appear in the future.” From a different perspective, citizen Hans Derubertreiber said, “the squirrels should be taken to a butcher. It is so rare to get real meat here.” He thinks the sale from the meat could go to the Athletic League or other charitable cause. After the meeting both men received a lengthy interview by Detective Finten, who is also a member of the club.
Back on Earth, the introduction of an evasive species or exotic animal to a new environment normally means that the survival of some native creatures is at risk when the new arrival has no natural enemies. In our case, we are the other living creatures, and are unable to reach cavity and tiny space of our biosphere here. A lesser problem would be that the new arrivals simply becomes a nuisance, like in the 1800s when the whalers brought mosquitoes to Hawaii to get back at the missionaries who prohibited their “sinful” activities during shore leave.
Although squirrels are common in American cities, that was not always the case. In an article written long ago by Etienne Benson in the December issue of 2013 of the Journal of American History called “The Urbanization of the Eastern Gray Squirrel in the United States,” the author found that squirrels were introduced to cities starting about 1840. Since cities at that time were growing quickly, the human populations increased while the animals (mostly farm animals) decreased in number. Squirrels were released into public parks and green spaces, and were largely dependent on the residents or municipalities to feed them. Ms. Benson wrote, “In the beginning of the twentieth century the feeding of squirrels had been seen as a way to civilize the parks and rechannel the energies of young boys from aggression and vandalism toward compassion and charity. With the shift to an ecological perspective, feeding itself became the source of concern. The solitary old man with the bag of nuts or breadcrumbs—rather than the gang of street urchins with slingshots—was now seen as a threat to the moral-ecological order.” The article also mentions that there are stories from the early settlers of the American Frontier that say their cornfields were sometimes decimated by invasions of wild squirrel hordes. This tells us that if their numbers become great, they can be a big threat to our farms.
Police Chief Hacket suspects that the person or people behind this are well meaning, thinking with an attitude like those early city dwellers of the late 1800s and early 1900s. He and others remain worried that what might seem to us as harmless now, could in the end bring death to us all.
