Ok, I'm going to weigh in on all the squirrel debates.
 
1) Don't eat squirrel. I realize it seems more nutritious than Ramen and on museum salaries, it seems shooting and eating the pests is the answer to all our profession's woes. However, there was an article in the New Yorker last spring about squirrel waters and saying that there is a strain of mad cow disease which has been found in the U.S. amongst squirrel eaters.
 
2) Don't trap them and relocate them. My mother's been taking Master Gardening training and they say that relocating animals is just a slow, cruel death for them- they don't know where to hide, where to find food or anything else in the new area and they die slowly and scared. So the seemingly inhumane methods are in fact more humane.
 
My vote would be the repellant- the wolf urine works for gardens. And then you won't have to worry about where to bury all the dead squirrel bodies. Or else contact Home Depot or some other similar group, since common home owners encounter this problem.
 

Pamela Feltus
Curator
National Museum of American Jewish Military History
1811 R Street NW, Washington DC 20009
202-265-6280 x201

www.nmajmh.org

-----Original Message-----
From: Lori Tomlinson [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, August 24, 2001 6:34 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: squirrel dilemma: a serious reply

Hi Susan.

Let me start by saying there may be no easy solution, and you're bound to
upset someone no matter which course of action you might take.

Have you tried contacting your local humane society, or perhaps the Humane
Society of the US?  There may be some natural substance that can be used as a
repellent, and a physical barrier that could keep them out once they're gone.

As for eating the squirrels, well, let me say this.  I am a RABID vegetarian.
 I'd rather see them trapped humanely if at all possible.  If they must be
killed, it would make sense to at least use them in some educational way,
i.e. in authentic historic recipes.  If anyone gives you guff about that,
tell them to think long and hard about their objections the next time they're
scarfing down a hamburger at Burger King.  And if a vegetarian gives you
guff, you can always explain that eating a squirrel and eating a cow,
chicken, or pig are basically the same thing, and if they're going to
protest, then they'll have to do it at ANY event in which you serve food with
meat in it.  I doubt they would be willing to do that.

Best of luck!

Lori Tomlinson
Executive Director
Florida Adventure Museum
Punta Gorda, Fla.
[log in to unmask]

In a message dated 8/24/01 5:05:05 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
> > > > >> Susan Lerner wrote:
> > > > >>
> > > > >> > I have a rather strange question to ask those of you in museums
> > > > >> > that have wood shingles on the roof of their building. We are
> > > > >> > having squirrel infestation problems at our historic house
museum.
> > > > >> > The squirrels are eating through  the cedar shingles on the
roof of
> > > > >> > our museum.  Has anyone ever encountered these problem before?
> > > > >> > If so is there any humane solution?