Not the squirrels too!!!

[Zelgadis 638]

Okay, now I read the New York Times every day.  Never miss it. 

But this...  Now this takes the cake.

Okay, the article has the usual headline designed to get your attention and thus make me click on it:

Saving a Squirrel by Eating One

Okay, so I click.  Seems like it might be interesting.  And what do I find?

A new rap group?

ISF

[Boggy1 45]

Bwhaha, those are great poses! The actual story on the other hand..yeah. Squirrels, grey ones are a bloody pest over here. I'd be the first to put them on MY dinner plate. Maybe.

[Barbarossa 51]

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  Edited September 7, 2012 by Barbarossa  

[psander5 195]

I was just talking about this at work the other day. Everyone thought I was wierd when I mentioned that people eat squirrels.

I'd definately be willing to try a grey if the opportunity came up. There's no way i'd go near old nutkins with a fork though. It's a sad thing when you have to go all the way to Scotland or the Isle of Wight to see our native red squirrels. I think they survive in patches elsewhere.

Another American pest we've been told we can eat is the American Signal Crayfish which escaped in the seventies from farms breeding them for restraunts!. I don't think they're as cute though.

[Meg 368]

I'm sorry to hear that the gray squirrels seem to be pushing the red squirrels out.   A friend over there sent me a red squirrel t-shirt years ago.  They seem to be cute little critters and there are already plenty of gray squirrels around.

 

I'm a bit puzzled as to why there seem to be more squirrels per square mile over there than there are here.   Sure, we have gray squirrels running around but I wouldn't say we are being over run with them.   Why is the population thriving more over there?   Some predator here that isn't present over there?

 

As to eating squirrels, I find that to be a bit stomach churning but I do know people over here who eat them.  I used to work with a guy who grew up in Mississippi and said he often went out squirrel hunting first thing in the morning so they could have squirrel for breakfast.    Thanks but I'll pass on that.  Maybe I should tell him that "British bon vivants" are now dining on squirrel too.

 

As to the various cultural food taboos, I'm not sure where some of them come from.  I imagine that the American taboo against eating horse meat comes from the fact that horses were more valuable as transportation and farm workers and there was plenty of other food around.

Many of the food taboos are geographic in nature.  Venison is widely consumed in rural areas.  Not so much in the cities because there is no mass production that I'm aware of.  In the warmer latitudes people don't consume much in the way of moose or caribou.

Bottom line is, people tend to eat whatever is plentiful wherever they happen to be.  and can be squeamish about foods that are not familiar to them.  

[Easy Bakes 253]

A Squirrel is just Rat a with fluffy tail and good publicity

Would never eat one though, Iv had , Moose, Venison, Elk,Possum, Pheasant ( there were tons of them all overwere i grew up). fresh caught fishes. most were ok

[Barbarossa 51]

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  Edited September 7, 2012 by Barbarossa  

[Zelgadis 638]

Y'all are talking about the article, but I still can't get over the British Gangsta Squirrel pics!

All I can guess here is that you'd better not try and take their nuts or they'll pop a cap in your arse.

Wow, that last bit made even me cringe. 

ISF

[Explodingsims 3]

Huh...Interesting.

I still don't think I'd eat squirrel though...Seems a bit too...redneck...

[JakeMD 107]

Found one looking into my window

[LarksTonguesInAspic 28]

Squirrels were such a pest in my garden I resorted to extreme measures...I discovered when something is destroying my corn I can throw a 2 foot length of 2x4 pretty accurately (Taps plays faintly in the distance). But they were gray squirrels, I don't see as many red ones. We have both colors here, but the reds are different from the reds in England I guess.

Eating one, though? No thanks. It's no better than eating a rat IMHO. Venison is tasty, rabbit is tasty, but squirrels? I'd have to be starving to death.

It reminds me of a conversation from Pulp Fiction; "Sewer rat may taste like m**** pumpkin pie, but I'd never know 'cause I'd never eat the filthy m****!"

And I thought guns were outlawed in England?

[Meg 368]

Originally posted by: manticorefan

And I thought guns were outlawed in England?quote>

Depends on the gun and the situation.

One of my friends over there frequently receives a pheasant from a friend of hers who hunts.

Not sure what he is shooting them with.   but he does shoot them.

[your_adress_here 11]

I wouldn't mind trying squirrel.

Don't you guys have brown and black squirrels as well? It seems to me that those are all I see up here.

[Boggy1 45]

Ski: Grey squirrels really thrive over here because they have no natural predator. But worse still, they eat red squirrels. They are also more nimble that the reds, and are able to steal all the best nest spots, and all of the food. It's a real shame.

[Meg 368]

Originally posted by: Boggy1 Ski:

Grey squirrels really thrive over here because they have no natural predator. But worse still, they eat red squirrels. They are also more nimble that the reds, and are able to steal all the best nest spots, and all of the food. It's a real shame.quote>

 

That is a shame.  I can see why you'd want to get rid of the grays.

Maybe hunting them and eating them is the best way to do it.   Even if the thought of Brits making squirrel pâté seems roughly akin to Koreans giving each other gift boxes of Spam.

I have to admit:  I don't have any suggestions that wouldn't also wipe out the reds.

[psander5 195]

Boggy: That's not true!!! I'm sure they don't eat reds. If they ever killed reds it would be over an argument about nuts or a tree. They wouldn't tuck in afterwards. I might be wrong on that, but i'd need to see proof before I believed it!

Zelgadis: They do look pretty gangsta!

[hamsterTK 93]

My dog could take on those squirrels...

[Meg 368]

Let us not forget the original gangsta squirrels.       [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TL1uFjSbvnA]

Please note that the link is being provided as an example of gangsta squirrels and does not imply endorsement of any product or services.

 

[hummer0328 6]

My dog has killed and eaten a few squirrels. I don't think I would ever eat one, unless I was pretty hungry and it was the only thing available. I probably would try a bite just to say I've tried it though.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Around here we only have black squirrels.  We also have a lot of hawks and falcons in this woods I live in.  Rodents are not a problem iin this area.

We also have foxes, coyotes, an occasional wolf, white-tailed deer, the ubiquitous raccoon, and various other furry critters.  All seems to be in balance.

[Duke87 1,070]

Originally posted by: Boggy1 Grey squirrels really thrive over here because they have no natural predator. quote>

Their natural predators (wolves, coyotes) don't really exist much around here anymore either. I'm sure some people's dogs may catch one on occasion but, like with a lot of animals around here, their primary predator seems to be cars.

And I tell you what, the crows love roadkill.

But worse still, they eat red squirrels. quote>

Come again? Squirrels are herbivores, aren't they?

[hamsterTK 93]

Around here we only have black squirrels.  We also have a lot of hawks and falcons in this woods I live in.  Rodents are not a problem iin this area.quote>

I remember as a little kid seeing those things in Toronto and feeding them. They were really tame around people and you could pet them. My mom still claims they were chipmunks...

Anyways, here in Texas we have mostly fox squirrels.

[csgcseri 0]

I've always experienced squarrels in urban area's as a wonder, when i was in New York for a month. Here, in Hungary, squarrels don't really get in urban areas, mostly live in forests. I only saw one in our weekend garden, but that was way out of urban area's, close to a nature reserve.

Eating squarrels? Well, if we have a hungarian specialty: roosters-testicle stew, then i wouldn't say, it's that bad. I would eat it, IF i don't know what i eat, and taste's good.

But again: Those rapper squirrels are the REAL "Alvin and the Chipmunks"

[Barbarossa 51]

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  Edited September 7, 2012 by Barbarossa