Squirrely Gateway to Sanity
A nutty case for nature in maintaining physical and mental health
I’m mad for squirrels. I’ve contemplated dedicating a column to them previously, but squirrels? The pests in our attics, the thieves of our birdfeeders, and the tormentors of our dogs? Then I found out that October is Squirrel Appreciation Month. I may not be a traditional southerner in all respects but give me a theme and I’ll run with it. Today we’re here to give it up for our closest wild animal companion, the eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis).
As a child I used to lie in the grass with my dog Abagail and watch squirrels in the trees. I knew those tail wags, those fits and starts, those chitters and yaps like the back of my hand. If only I had a pet squirrel, I’d think, staring at a nut-brown face, a pointed nose, a set of inky black eyes. I read about Squirrel Nutkin, Beatrix Potter’s creation who lost a tail to an owl named Old Brown. Sometimes a tailless squirrel would visit the yard. “Squirrel Nutkin,” I’d whisper.
Those longing memories give way to later ones of raising baby squirrels. It seems they were forever falling out of trees early. My brother Robert and I would take them home, craft elaborate nests of boxes, twigs, and cloth napkins, and feed them using eye droppers. Our rescue endeavors were carefully overseen…
