The Silence of the Squirrels

So we have a rickety wood shed attached to our garage that the previous owners used as a dog house and storage space for hay and things. Anyway, since we do not have a dog, the shed has become a haven for squirrels--they are everywhere and are chewing their way into our garage. We bought a trap for them, but they were smarter than it and kept getting the bait without getting caught, so yesterday Ryan bought a bb gun to finish them off.A little context here, these red squirrels are not native to Montana and are overrunning the place, killing lots of native bird species and are a general nuisance. Shooting them with a pellet gun is not illegal and is even encouraged (there was a recent article about it in the paper which also included several recipes for squirrel stew).

The first order of business yesterday was to clear out the shed of all the nesting material and break the plywood off the walls (their nest was in between the walls). Not only did we find several adult squirrels, but we found these--three newborns (click on picture to enlarge). They were chirping and burrowing and kind of gross, but also kind of cute.

Ryan suggested quietly burying them, but I just couldn't do it out there with Bridger so compassionate for them and holding my own little helpless baby. I have no problem with hunting or purging your property of appropriate vermin, but something in me would not allow Ryan to directly kill them.
Bridger's suggestion was that we take them to the park across the street to at least give them a chance. I liked this idea so we carefully nested them in a bucket, but when we got into the front yard we remembered that lots of dogs frequent the park and the squirrels would be sniffed out, so we decided to leave them in the bucket under a tree in our front yard.

I confess that part of the reason I left them in the bucket nest (besides it being a bit of protection) was that it would be easier to carry them away when they died. I really have no doubt that they will die or have already. We took them from their nest, exposed them to the air for awhile, displaced them, and to top it all off, Ryan shot their parents this morning through the bathroom window. But somehow it appeased my mother's conscience to let them die quietly or hope somehow that their mother or an adoptive mom would find them and carry them off to someone else's yard!

This has led to lots of lively discussion in the house. Bridger knows that daddy and grandpa hunt and has seen dead animals before; he likes to play hunting and "shoot" at his animals. This is all fine with me--he's a boy and it's part of life. But, there is also a respect that must be taught about animals--you don't kill animals with a low population or out of the appropriate season, you don't hunt animals you won't eat and you don't kill babies. Cruelty to animals in children is one of the biggest indicators of an adult serial killer, so I appreciate that Bridger had compassion for those little babies (he feels bad about the big ones too, but less so).

We also talked about how God put people as stewards over animals--it's okay to eat them and keep them from running over a town, but it's not right to kill them senselessly or kill them to extinction. Lots of life lessons and totally inadequate explanations on my part, but Bridger nods his head seriously and accepts it.