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| scary squirrel world | THE WAR WAGON INVESTIGATION |
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If you didn't read our first War Wagon feature, Surprise Valley is situated in California's north-east corner. It's home to 1500 people and an untold number of Belding ground squirrels - a beast whose voracious appetite keeps local farmers awake at night for fear of losing their crops.
Until 1990, the bushytail horde was kept in check with Compound 1080. This poison was mixed with all the things skwerls like to eat; then, ag officials loaded the mix into planes and carpet bombed the farms in the valley. It worked great.
Unfortunately, it worked too great. Compound 1080 also killed just about everything else that happened by, including the endangered bald eagle. In 1990, the valley lost it's permit to use the poison and the skwerls took over.
Things looked bleak until 1992 when the Chamber of Commerce decided to invite hunters from around the nation to come and shoot all the belding g-skwerls they wanted during the annual Surprise Valley Squirrel Round-Up (see news story for more info).
Of course, the thought of massacring slavering chitterboxes thrills some and apalls others. So, we figured we'd better investigate the Surprise Valley situation ourselves to determine if such extreme measures are warranted. Our straight forward findings and conclusions follow...
Surprise Valley is high desert: for the most part, the valley is covered by the the alkali remains of Ice Age lakes. The Warner Mountains are on the west and the Hays Canyon Range is on the east. There is very little arable land, mostly on the west side of the valley, and only a few hundred yards wide at most. The primary crop is fodder for cattle. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) office in Cedarville will provide you with a booklet and map that provides a self-tour guide to the area.
The most observable critter in the valley is the Belding ground squirrel, Spermophilus beldingi (pictured below). Deer, wild horses, antelope, fox, marmot, beaver, mountain lion, and all manner of migratory birds are also seen depending on the location, time of day and year. In wet years, when the lakes fill briefly with water, brine shrip are harvested. In dry years, you can walk onto the dry lake bed, scoop out a bit of soil beneath the surface, put it in a jar, add water, and watch the shrimp come to life. 2001 is a drought year. The BLM predicts that the wild horse population will be hit hard and an effort is being made to round them up for relocation.
Economy, demographics, and history: Small ranches and farms. The growing season averages 120 days per year. There are fewer than 2000 people in the valley including the Gidutikadu (ground hog eaters) band of the Paiutes. Cedarville is the main town and hosts the Modoc County Fair, rodeos, and other events. Tourism is minimal. The BLM manages most of the territory including newly designated wilderness areas aimed at species and cultural preservation. There is basic lodging in Cedarville and several guest ranches in the area. Surprise Valley was known to immigrants passing through it in the 1840's. The Lassen-Applegate Immigrant trail cuts across it before ascending the Warner Mountains via Fandango Pass. The valley was settled in the 1860's by settlers from California's Sacramento Valley much to the distress of the native Paiutes.
And now for our conclusions regarding the Squirrel Round-Up. Specifically, is the shoot necessary and are their alternatives to it?
We observed very few chitterboxes in cultivated areas. However, on the "Back Country Byway" where there are no farms, the Belding ground squirrel is everywhere. In fact, along the stretch parallel to Fortynine Creek, on the road to Vya, the drooling nut crunchers carpeted the road in an attempt to block our progress (click skwerls below to hear hideous chitters). Obviously the March skwerl shoot succeeded in reducing the nutzies numbers in cultivated areas but a serious threat remains just beyond the pale.
What about alternatives? There are several possible alternatives to shooting the chitterboxes:
Introduce "natural predators": the area already has an abundance of natural predators including coyote and hawk. Introducing more might upset the current balance and result in more harm than good. Additionally, the recent draught has the native animal population stressed to the limit. As demonstrated on our Skwerl and Hawk page, increasing the population in a confined area with limited resources can be disasterous.
Poison them: unfortuantely this ag-preferred, cost effective method tends to kill off everything, not just skwerls. And, skwerlhuggers and eco-terrorist hippie peacenics are adamantly opposed to this method. In this case, we agree.
Relocate the burrowing devils: this might seem viable except the Belding g-skwerl is officially a "pest." So, unlike the prairie dawg, no one is itching to adopt a few thousand of them and there is no funding for such an ambitious project (as with wild horses, wolves, etc.). Relocating them to uncultivated areas within the valley isn't advisable, either. The move will negatively impact the g-skwerls living outside the farm belt by overpopulating territory that can barely support those that are there now. It's your basic not in my back yard agrument.
Is the Squirrel Round-Up necessary? Given the confined areas of cultivation, it's easy to see how the nutkins could eat through a field in a few short days. Although the shoot is offensive to some, there's a long history of culling animal populations to protect agricultural interests. For example, some states have offered bounties on skwerls while others organized great skwerl hunts as in 1822 Ohio.
In this case, the shoot protects the livelihood of folks in Surprise Valley. It also prevents skwerl overpopulation which ironically benefits the nutkins themselves (at least the ones that survive). For example, both male and female Belding g-skwerls will eat the young of its neighbors in territorial wars for food and shelter.
Additionally, the shoot takes place just before the chitterbox breeding season gets into full swing (note: female Beldings are usally receptive to mating for only one day); so, the next generation of skwerls isn't affected (well, not until the next shoot).
Finally, the annual shoot has no appreciable impact on the ecology of the area. Most obviously, it doesn't affect other species. In fact, under BLM guidance, Surprise Valley is a refreshing example of an area looking to thoroughly protect its environment as well as its community.
So, although we find the carnival promotion of the event offensive, we concur with the reader who wrote of the shoot, "I think it's pretty lame, but as a farmer I can tell you squirrels and other rodents can wipe you out in no time without some pretty aggressive controls. Since the feds and state have implemented restrictive policies on poisoning, I have to sympathsize with the Surprise Valley farmers. What other realistic choice do they have?"
Click here for the Anti-Squirrel Coalition's official position on Surprise Valley
READER COMMENTS:
Anyone who objects to shooting the bushy tailed rats ought to have to make their living in the Valley by farming. Lets see what they say after a couple of years of reality.
I love squirrels, and this site is the funniest thing ever, but the problem is not too many squirrels, its too many humans. I say eliminate the tax credit for any more than two children to a couple, and we soon wouldn't have to cultivate areas that were never intended to be farmed in the first place. The squirrels only breed once every 12 months. Humans reproduce once every 9 months, and most of those are hardly a credit to their species! If only humans had the decency and fun loving personality of squirrels! You can be d--- sure humans have had a more damaging effect on the earth than all the squirrels that ever existed combined have had! From Molly Kule, the f.sq. spirit
Just because you haven't got the adorable features as a squirrel doesn't mean you have to mess with them. Members of the Squirrel Society, UNITE!!!
Sounds like a "really fun" place... i'm surprised the skwerls living there dont shoot themselves.
WELL SPANK ME AND CALL ME JESUS, THOSE NASTY CRITTERS IS GETTIN WHAT FOR!!!!
Noble, if you eat 'em.
Noble Pursuit
Don't you see? This is what the Carnys want! They're trying to turn humans against squirrels! Don't fall into the Carny-run trap, my friends. Stand up against the Carnys and fight back.
Shooting squirrels is sad, sadisitc, and cruel. Is there something wrong with your brains!?
Kill em All!
noble sport
really sick stuff
cruel sport
Noble Pursuit. Kill The Dirty Lil Rats.
5.56 Rounds are good on Vermin
i don't like this if you decide to do something I will help you stop it.
Thin out the vermin horde! Damn right. All of you liberal environmentalists go to an actual biology class. KILL THE EVIL SQUIRRELS, LEST THEY WALK UPON OUR GRAVES ONCE THEY HAVE CONSUMNED OUR GRAIN SUPPLIES! Might of well have some fun while you help save the world.
what the %#$& are you smoking? these animals are perfectly safe... i think you should lay off the crack and realize that they are not controlled by the devil. i think you should get a *&(*(&^%$ life! i have a prairie dog for a pet and it is the most gentle pet i ever had. you are %# up and so are all of your squrrill hating friends. if you consider me a squrrill hugger go ahead i happen to enjoy the company of my PET prairie dog. they day that they take over the world is the day that pigs fly. get a (_(*& life you pathetic #%$^$^. go back to the insane doctor because i dont think your head is on straight. gimmie a break and lay off the helpless animals. shooting an animal that cant fight back that must make you real big huh. oh yea if you get beat up by a squrrill you are a %$%$# pussy. a pathetic PUSSY!!!
noble pursuit
Poor little squirrels? I DONT THINK SO!! Think of the poor little birds and other, NICE animals that are being eaten out of house and home by those evil fuzzy tailed tree rats! Shoot to kill, my friends, for to kill a squirrel is to save a life!!!
cruel sport
I hope they are eating those darned bushytail varmints. Waste not want not. Brunswick stew for everybody! Except leave the brains, which may harbor the ultimate skwerl tool of retribution, the chitterbox eqivalent of Mad Cow Disease, where you found them.
Whoever said that this website is "sick" is clueless. It's a joke for crying out loud.They don't even spell squirrel right.They're not saying to "go out and kill all the squirrels". Get a grip, and squirrels have harmed people. My uncle almost had his arm ripped off by one and haven't you ever heard of the deer hunt things.If the squirrel population doesn't drop then there won't be enough food and they'll starve slowly to death anyway.
This wav sums up what I feel about these PETA skwerlhuggers: http://www.tokarifederation.f2s.com/holdline.wav
I agree that if the squirrel population can't be controlled by poison, since it also destroys the noble bald eagle, our national bird, that farmers should have the right to take other measures to control the population. How can a season of shooting squirrels not help control the population? Would traps be better? Or the introduction of a natural predator? Those would have their downsides as well, trapping the wrong animals, or not being able to control the hunting habits of a natural predator. Squirrel hunting is probably the most effective, specifically targeted method of exterminating a portion of the bushytailed horde. Keep up the noble pursuit.
You are all sick to have a website like this promoting the killing of defenseless animals. What did they ever do to you? I am going to report you to your ISP and the government and have your site taken off the internet forever.
From reading the news article, it seems that the squirrels original home was in the foothills or mountains around the valley. Then cultivation brought them down. So, the farmers and ranchers brought this plague on themselves. So, let them figure it out and all you squirrel lovers can keep the hell out of it!
sport, no; noble, no; necessary, yes. sad, yes.
I think it's pretty lame, but as a farmer I can tell you squirrels and other rodents can wipe you out in no time without some pretty aggressive controls. Since the feds and state have implemented restrictive policies on poisoning, I have to sympathsize with the Surprise Valley farmers. What other realistic choice do they have?
