This message is from: "Cheryl Beillard" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Oh Jean you are so lucky - to have seen - and unlucky - to have trapped! a flying squirrel. They are protected here, in Ontario, along with red squirrels which are horribly threatened by hordes of large black and grey urban squirrels which are gradually making their way out into the more isolated woods (with suburban sprawl, I suppose .. and better roads!) .. I am tempted to shoot black squirrels, when I see them but resist! I have pictures of up to 11 red squirrels at my supposed bird feeders in the winter -- you're right, it's not possible to eliminate them .. more will just come in to fill up the territory ..we use humane traps (if they are inside, which is a disaster if they can't get back out!) and then release them miles away. I can appreciate your frustration at the mess in the barn, but I am glad you aren't setting out any more traps. We have a neighbour who watches them at night at his bird feeder, illuminated in the window by the light from inside .. Our only experience was several years ago, finding 5 little flying squirrel tails (they're flat,unlike the red squirrels) under a big oak tree, after hearing terrible screams one night .. presumably a fisher or a coon got a nest of them and spat out the tails. But I'd love to see a live one swooping from tree to tree sometime. Maybe you will, now you know they're there!
