2020: Making A Case For Squirrels

Here’s a good word for the day: “anthropomorphize”. It means attribute human characteristics to an animal or object. If you’ve ever carried on a conversation with your dog, that’s really what you’re up to. It’s not a bad thing… and in its highest form, gives us cartoon characters. I want to discuss squirrels today, and yet I can’t Rocket J. Squirrel out of my head. 

The squirrels all around us

Squirrels abound in Lafayette Square, thanks to our park and many canopy trees. The little critters swing from trees onto our roofs and chew through shingles and soffits into snug spaces. They drop acorns like tiny grenades on passers-by in the park.  Squirrels run up and down utility poles, and walk the overhead wires like tightropes. They gnaw on power lines and drive dogs to distraction. They’re annoyingly successful at plundering our bird feeders, outwitting every defense. I’ve heard them referred to as rural rats. They might have charms as well, so I decided to investigate. 

There are two types of well-established squirrel in Eastern Missouri, the eastern gray squirrel and the larger eastern fox squirrel. The less frequently seen fox squirrels are neither social, nor playful, but are impressive jumpers, easily leaping 15 foot spans, or free-falling 20 feet to a limb or tree trunk. 

The eastern gray squirrel, found everywhere, has a white underside, as opposed to the reddish brown underside of the fox or red squirrel. As mammals go, squirrels have an unusual knack for being able to descend a tree head first. They do this by turning their rear feet backwards while using their claws to grip.  

They are prolific breeders. In a year with plenty to eat, they will produce both a spring and autumn litter of 1-4 young. Of those, only 25% will likely survive their first year, and only half those will make it though a second year. A lucky squirrel might last eight years in the wild, but up to twenty in captivity. 

A little history of squirrels and men

Benjamin Franklin, a man of many talents, once eulogized a dead squirrel named Mungo. (http://johnthedogwalker.com/squirrel-poem/) In the 18th and 19th Centuries, squirrels were commonly kept as house pets. Writer Katherine Grier called them the “most popular” of all pets, as they were so easy to keep. 

In the 1700s squirrels were sold in markets, for breeding, for meat and for pets. In this last capacity, they found their way into wealthy urban family homes. Artists painted children in portraits with their pets on short chain leashes.  As squirrels don’t usually wander far, humans did the trick of placing squirrels where they could become ubitquitous. 

Most of what you’ll find in the United States are American gray squirrels, although there are plenty of fox squirrels and some reds and flying squirrels. All are agile and graceful, with a surprising ability to learn and be trained. That they are energetic goes without saying; the difference between a cage and a squirrel cage is the presence of a wheel in the latter. 

Wikipedia dubs them, “the most prodigious and ecologically essential natural forest regenerator.” This, by virtue of their habits; They are classed as “scatter hoarders,” collecting nuts and acorns, then burying them in small caches in the ground. Each squirrel makes a thousand or more such caches, digging them up as needed. Squirrels have great spatial memory, and locate caches by their proximity to other remembered objects. 

A project at the University of California at Berkeley tracked 45 grey squirrels for two years, feeding them almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts and pecans. They found the nuts cached in new places, often by type and sometimes by size. This is a memory technique called “chunking,” similar to how you put items away into specific areas of the refrigerator so you don’t need to consciously recall where you put the butter.   

Victims of their own success in adapting to new environments, squirrels came to be regarded as pests in the early 20th Century. They were somehow associated with the spread of bubonic plague, which afflicts an average of seven people a year in the US. They also reproduce like crazy, and will help themselves to a variety of crops intended for humans. 

With our country fighting in Europe in April 1918, another war was declared, on squirrels by the California State Horticulture commissioner. He exhorted children to get out there and exterminate the woodland rodents. An official Squirrel Week was called, with a small bounty paid for each tail of a vanquished squirrel.

A South St. Louis squirrel alleged to have bitten its third victim in March 1950 was chased by a large crowd over a three hour period:  

It was brought to ground finally, but not before biting a fourth victim. The city could once again feel safe.

From the 1920s through the 1970s, various states adopted exotic pet laws, banning home squirreling. Nevertheless, squirrels occasionally ventured from the trees and lawns to seek their fortune with sympathetic owners like beloved artist Bob Ross. He’s shown here with his pet squirrel Peapod.  

Grays vs reds in America and Britain

Looking around in the park, you’ll see many more grays than reds, a consequence of the grays ability to digest unripe acorns leading them to get first call on food. As a result, the gray squirrel grows larger, and hungrier. By actual harvest time, they might have eaten most of what the reds were patiently waiting for. There is also a pox virus carried asymptomatically by the grays, that decimates the red population. It all led to a very unfair competition. 

In England, where gray squirrels were introduced by well-meaning Americans like Ben Franklin, the beloved reds were nearly run out of existence. In 1932, the introduction of grays was made illegal, and failure to report a sighting of one was punishable by fine. It seemed Beatrix Potter was blamed by everyone; her red squirrel “Nutkin” was “the embodiment of cheeky charisma” whereas her gray squirrel “Timmy Tiptoes” was a no-good nut thief. Noted outdoor enthusiast Prince Charles in 2014 formed the Squirrel Accord, composed of 35 woodland and conservation groups, dedicated to controlling the grays and protecting the reds. This is what happens when you must wait 72 years to become king – you’re forced to exert power in smaller ways.  

On this side of the Atlantic, famed naturalist John Burroughs painted the gray squirrel in a different light, as “an elegant creature, so cleanly in its habits, so graceful in its carriage, so nimble in its movements.” When New York’s Central Park was opened to the public in 1877, a handful of gray squirrels were also introduced. Within a few years, their numbers had swelled to over 1,500, and they began stripping bark from trees. In 1886, park and city police shared a hunting expedition. They first closed the park, then proceeded to shoot over 100 squirrels.

Woodland squirrels are annoying outside the wild. In parks, they eat tree bark to get to the nutrient rich cambium layer of the tree. This damages or kills the trees. They will eat buds, flowers, nuts and seeds. They rob gardens, and will, for example, ruin a tomato just to eat its seeds. As ecology goes, a food web will follow squirrels, attracting not just dogs and cats, but raccoons, foxes, coyotes and birds of prey. 

There were hoards of gray squirrels in early America. Pennsylvania slapped a bounty on them as early as 1749. When they run out of food, they’ll migrate en masse, and there are historical records of hoards as large as 100 square miles, on the move (Wisconsin in 1842, Pemiscot County, MO in 1914). This from a species that normally doesn’t stray farther than 200 yards from its home base. Very adaptable indeed. 

Just right for every occasion

City squirrels had it easier than their country cousins. The fat gray squirrel has been prized in rural America as a meat source, and considered a game animal in Missouri for as long as there’s been a Missouri. I followed the Globe-Democrat Rod and Gun column through several seasons, discovering that the haul was estimated by the Missouri Department of Conservation from 800,000 grays in 1934-35, to 1,600,000 in 1942. Along with an estimated 2.4 million reds, the paper figured that squirrels accounted for over 3.43 million pounds of “high quality dressed meat for Missouri tables in 1942.”  

The hunting of squirrels in Missouri goes back at least as far as Daniel Boone. The crack shots developed a skill known as “barking,” where the ball from a large bore muzzle loader would strike the limb a squirrel sat on. The shock of reverberation would kill the squirrel without any visible damage to squirrel or meat. This was often cited as an expert technique in the papers. 

By 1960, Missouri had two recognized squirrel seasons per year, and a normal year would see nearly 2 million bagged in the state. In 1961, the top game animal by numbers was rabbit (5 million), followed by squirrels with 2 million. This yearly yield remained pretty consistent through the mid 1970s. With a daily limit of six squirrels, this meant that a lot of Missourians were out shooting up the trees. George Carson of the Globe-Democrat wrote that “nothing is more delicious than a young fried squirrel with a spring salad and any other vegetable you care to eat.” Missourians still shoot 600,000 squirrels per year (2017). 

And there are folks who get rapturous over the thought of a well-braised, baked or fricasseed squirrel. 

A quick for instance

Every year in Bentonville, AR, squirrel gourmets from all over gather for the world championship squirrel cook-off. This year’s tournament was held in March, just before the world went into lockdown. The winning recipe was executed to perfection. They had me at tacos and beer, whether or not squirrels were involved.  

1^st Place: Braised Squirrel Tacos – Nutty Cheeks Squirrel Squad of Kansas City, Missouri

Special Equipment: Blender, large saucepan, large pot

Time: 5 hours
Servings: 4-6

• Ingredients
  4-5 whole squirrels
• 9 dried guajillo peppers
• 1 can whole tomatoes
• 1 large white onion
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 tbsp. chicken bouillon
• 1 can beer (preferably Saison)
• Grape seed oil or cooking oil of your choice
• Mexican oregano
• Salt and pepper
• Corn tortillas
• Limes, red onion, queso fresco, and cilantro to garnish

Directions

1. Take dried guajillo peppers and soak in water overnight. Make sure peppers are fully submerged in water. Prepare squirrel by breaking down into quarters. Season with salt and pepper.
2. De-stem the soaked peppers and remove veins and seeds. Cut a white onion into quarter pieces. In a blender, add peppers, onion, canned tomatoes, garlic, bouillon, 2 tablespoons of salt, Mexican oregano, and fill blender ¾ of the way with water. Blend until smooth.
3. In a large saucepan add 2 tablespoons of oil and warm the pan to a medium-high heat. Add sauce and stir until it’s reduced and begins to simmer. Remove from heat and set aside.
4. Cover the bottom of a large pot with oil and set to medium-high heat. Add squirrel and sear on both sides by flipping after 2-3 minutes. Once seared, remove squirrel with tongs and set aside.
5. Add ½ can of beer and deglaze pot. Break loose all the burnt bits stuck to the bottom of the pot. Reduce slightly.
6. Once reduced, add sauce and squirrel and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to low and cover. Let braise for 3-4 hours, or until meat is tender. Turn heat off and let stand for 15 minutes.
7. After the braise has rested, shred all the squirrel meat from the bone and add to the braise sauce.
8. Warm the tortillas in a small saucepan by adding a drizzle of oil over medium-high heat. Once the oil is hot, take a tortilla and slap some braise sauce on both sides to lightly coat. Add it to the oil and cook quickly so the tortilla is still pliable. You want it hot, not fried.
9. Prepare your tacos by filling with braise and topping with cilantro, red onion, and queso fresco.

One last benefit squirrels provide….once you’ve enjoyed your tacos, you can cash in the pelts. They’re less expensive than mink, and some say just as pretty. This, from 1956:  

Thanks to research sources, including:

Clay Newcomb of Meateater on-line magazine for coverage of the March 2020 cook-off at https://www.themeateater.com/hunt/small-game/world-championship-squirrel-cookoff-recipes

A good read for the pet-centric is Katherine Grier’s Pets in America: Harvest Books; 2007

Study by UC Berkeley courtesy of Kelsey Kennedy’s blog of September 13, 2017.

California squirrel week from Dave Gilson blog, November 29,2016

17th and 18th Century pet squirrel history from Natalie Zarrelli blog; April 28,2017

Introduction of American grey squirrels to Great Britain courtesy of Linda Rodriguez McRobbie from her blog; April 27, 2016.

New York experience with grey squirrels from Jessica Leigh Hester’s blog of October 24,2018.

George Carson was the hunting and fishing writer for the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, and I resourced his columns of May 8, 1960, May 14, 1961 and May 12, 1962. His predecessor was Marlon Parker, whose column of May 30, 1943 I also used. 1976 harvest of 2 million from Post-Dispatch of November 14,1976. 

Habit and habitat information on squirrels from the Missouri Department of Conservation, which has a lot of information including hunting (with recipe), at https://mdc.mo.gov/conmag/2019-06/squirrel-hunting-101