White squirrels

smhardesty said:

Not exactly a squirrel hunting post, but I have mentioned these things to a couple of guys that have never heard of them. So, here are photos taken of one that lives in my backyard. We have a large population of these critters. Exactly how and when they first showed up here is a matter of debate. One story has them imported here around 135 years ago and another story has them brought in over 150 years ago. The ones here are actually albinos, but many of them have dark eyes. That causes a huge debate as to whether they are albinos or just white colored squirrels. As you can see in the last image, running over one ACCIDENTALLY will net you a $750 fine. If you are found guilty of intentionally shooting and/or possessing a stuffed white squirrel, you are at the mercy of the court with fines ranging from $2500 and WAY up. We have a "squirrel count" every year to keep tabs on the population. In the 1940s, there were between 800 and 1000 here. The last few counts have the population estimated at just over 100.

One of my real sore spots with this town is that you get fined $750 for accidentally running over one, but there is no penalty to residents who allow their cats to roam freely and kill squirrels. Yes, we have an ordinance that specifically prohibits cats and dogs from roaming at large. Even though there have been a few photos taken that clearly show cats eating white squirrels or dragging one down the street, the town just will not do anything about the free roaming, feral cats in town. That population has been estimated at somewhere between 3000 and 5000 free ranging cats. I'm thinking I might help reduce that population in the very near future.

Anyway, here are a couple of photos of a squirrel that lives in my backyard. I keep a couple of ears of corn out for it., but some folks in town have HUGE backyard feed stations with everything imaginable for them to eat.

Click to expand...

smhardesty said:

I had a conversation with one of the city councilmen, actually councilwoman. She told me there hasn't been a fine dished out in a LOT of years and not because nobody has run over a white squirrel. That happens to be one of her pet peeves as a member of the council. She is really ticked about the fact there are so many ordinances that are never enforced. At the top of her list is that they won't enforce the ordinance prohibiting free roaming cats and dogs. Next on her list is that they won't enforce the ordinance that requires grass/weeds to be kept shorter than 12". And then since she rehabilitates white squirrels, she thinks the $750 fine threat they pose is silly if they won't enforce it. I happen to be in a battle with one of my neighbors. He mows his lawn about 5 or 6 times a year. Period. And nothing done about it. I suspect pretty much every town/city has ordinances on the books that are never enforced. The councilwoman I talk to thinks if they aren't going to enforce an ordinance, they should take it off the books. I kind of have to agree with her. It does seem silly to keep all those old ordinances on the books and then not enforce them.

As for breeding out of existence, that's one of the strange things with these white squirrels. This all supposedly started when a guy found two white squirrels kits and took them home. He then bred them with regular gray squirrels which resulted in litters with both gray and white kits. That is also one of the arguments that you hear from the group claiming these are not albinos. They claim, and probably rightfully so, that if it was albinism then it would eventually have been bred out of existence. Since it continues year after year, they say it can't be albinism. It's an interesting argument, for sure.

Click to expand...