White squirrels

[Deleted member 46449]

Not exactly a squirrel hunting post, but I have mentioned these things to a couple of guys that have never heard of them. So, here are photos taken of one that lives in my backyard. We have a large population of these critters. Exactly how and when they first showed up here is a matter of debate. One story has them imported here around 135 years ago and another story has them brought in over 150 years ago. The ones here are actually albinos, but many of them have dark eyes. That causes a huge debate as to whether they are albinos or just white colored squirrels. As you can see in the last image, running over one ACCIDENTALLY will net you a $750 fine. If you are found guilty of intentionally shooting and/or possessing a stuffed white squirrel, you are at the mercy of the court with fines ranging from $2500 and WAY up. We have a "squirrel count" every year to keep tabs on the population. In the 1940s, there were between 800 and 1000 here. The last few counts have the population estimated at just over 100.

One of my real sore spots with this town is that you get fined $750 for accidentally running over one, but there is no penalty to residents who allow their cats to roam freely and kill squirrels. Yes, we have an ordinance that specifically prohibits cats and dogs from roaming at large. Even though there have been a few photos taken that clearly show cats eating white squirrels or dragging one down the street, the town just will not do anything about the free roaming, feral cats in town. That population has been estimated at somewhere between 3000 and 5000 free ranging cats. I'm thinking I might help reduce that population in the very near future.

Anyway, here are a couple of photos of a squirrel that lives in my backyard. I keep a couple of ears of corn out for it., but some folks in town have HUGE backyard feed stations with everything imaginable for them to eat.

 

[beerthief]

White Squirrels on campus and around town in Bowling Green KY , same fines too

 

[JohnL57]

Pretty cool! I imagine they don't last long in the woods since they're more visible to predators. There's a local California Thrasher bird in my area with a white face mask-normally they're all shades of brown and grey. I see it periodically in the same spot. I don't have a pic of the white-faced one though.

 

[Deleted member 46449]

White Squirrels on campus and around town in Bowling Green KY , same fines too

They're protective of them, that's for sure. Are the ones there considered true albinos or are they actually a sort of mutated gray squirrel? The debate has been raging here for years because we see them with pink eyes and with dark eyes. I'm not a guru on such things so I usually let somebody else do the arguing over which kind they are. I just know they are unique and the one I have in the backyard is almost like a pet. I can't get close enough to feed it by hand, but it won't run off if it's eating my corn and I step out the backdoor. I have to make a lot of noise or try and approach it before it runs up the tree.

Pretty cool! I imagine they don't last long in the woods since they're more visible to predators.

No, I'm sure they wouldn't last. There is a woman here in town that has the appropriate licenses and permits to take in wounded adults or abandoned kits and then nurses them back to health, or raises them to young adult size. She then releases them into "the wild" in our city park. The last time I spoke with her she said she had about 15. I think she said she has two or three that can not be released due to permanent damage they had received and wouldn't live if reintroduced into an urban setting. I do know she has at least one that she takes out and allows to climb all over her, just like a kitten would do. She has had that one a long time.

Just don't shoot one. LOL!

 

[pdxFrank]

I too lived in Olney IL "Home of the White Squirrels" for a while. As a youth, many decades ago.

Coming from Chicago and sewer-rats, the cute fluffy squirrels was a nice change.

 

[BackStop]

If a white tree rat ever shows up in my back yard, it will get a pass.

But, not the rest of them...

 

[Deleted member 46449]

I too lived in Olney IL "Home of the White Squirrels" for a while. As a youth, many decades ago.

Coming from Chicago and sewer-rats, the cute fluffy squirrels was a nice change.

Whoa! From Chicago to Olney? That had to be culture shock to the max! LOL! There are more people on some blocks of Chicago than in this whole town.

 

[pdxFrank]

Whoa! From Chicago to Olney? That had to be culture shock to the max! LOL! There are more people on some blocks of Chicago than in this whole town.

We lived in Olney for a contract dad had. If memory serves, it was a soda bottling company. Seems to have involved Evel Knievel, like he was part owner or something. I remember pops saying he was kind of a d*ck. Or I just had a seizure and think I remember it that-a-way.

Anyway, went back to Chicago for a while, then when I was about 15, moved to West (by god) Virginia.

Now THERE'S a culture-shock. At least in the mid-west people were, oh, kinda normal.

 

[Deleted member 46449]

We lived in Olney for a contract dad had. If memory serves, it was a soda bottling company. Seems to have involved Evel Knievel, like he was part owner or something. I remember pops saying he was kind of a d*ck. Or I just had a seizure and think I remember it that-a-way.

It wouldn't have been AMF's bicycle plant, would it? My mother-in-law, wife, and a few other family members worked there for years. Knievel had some sort of deal worked out with AMF. AMF produced a special Evel Knievel bicycle. He was here to promote the bike on different occasions. Somewhere, we have an 11" x 14" photo of my mother-in-law and Knievel together at one of the promotions. Maybe that was where your dad had his contract.

 

[pdxFrank]

It wouldn't have been AMF's bicycle plant, would it?

thanks for that, no idea either way but your version sounds proper.

 

[Chuck-in-Ohio]

The ODNR says that you can kill any Albino animal that you see and is in season. They do stipulate that local ordinances take precedence where applicable though.

I always give Albinos a pass, but hammer Piebalds and other funny coloration patterns. We get a few black squirrels down here in West Central Ohio, and they get the dirt nap as well.

 

[badger5th]

Not exactly a squirrel hunting post, but I have mentioned these things to a couple of guys that have never heard of them. So, here are photos taken of one that lives in my backyard. We have a large population of these critters. Exactly how and when they first showed up here is a matter of debate. One story has them imported here around 135 years ago and another story has them brought in over 150 years ago. The ones here are actually albinos, but many of them have dark eyes. That causes a huge debate as to whether they are albinos or just white colored squirrels. As you can see in the last image, running over one ACCIDENTALLY will net you a $750 fine. If you are found guilty of intentionally shooting and/or possessing a stuffed white squirrel, you are at the mercy of the court with fines ranging from $2500 and WAY up. We have a "squirrel count" every year to keep tabs on the population. In the 1940s, there were between 800 and 1000 here. The last few counts have the population estimated at just over 100.

One of my real sore spots with this town is that you get fined $750 for accidentally running over one, but there is no penalty to residents who allow their cats to roam freely and kill squirrels. Yes, we have an ordinance that specifically prohibits cats and dogs from roaming at large. Even though there have been a few photos taken that clearly show cats eating white squirrels or dragging one down the street, the town just will not do anything about the free roaming, feral cats in town. That population has been estimated at somewhere between 3000 and 5000 free ranging cats. I'm thinking I might help reduce that population in the very near future.

Anyway, here are a couple of photos of a squirrel that lives in my backyard. I keep a couple of ears of corn out for it., but some folks in town have HUGE backyard feed stations with everything imaginable for them to eat.

When I first read this I thought you were taking something from "The Onion".. Well, they are cute BUT I'm surprised they haven't been bred out of existance by interbreeding with non-white squirels. (Cringe), Sorry, I know that didn't sound good but you know what I mean? Has anyone ever been fined to your knowledge for running over one of them?

 

[woogie_man]

Those are cool looking. Like stated by others... would give that guy a pass. Though would be really cool looking on a nice display as well.

Really is sad that the town lets cats run around the neighborhood. There is nothing I hate more than people that let their damn animals run around free. Especially cats up in my area.... they DESTROY the bird population and other wildlife. Those never get a pass if I am out hunting squirrels.

 

[WorriedMan]

Woogie,
Goes in cycles around here. People trap the feral cats and send to the "no-kill" animal shelter. When the shelter fills the local news station runs a "Clear the Shelter" promotion, cat lovers "adopt" as many as allowed, only to be released back to the wild. Heck of a program. WM

 

[badger5th]

Cute, white, fluffy = DEATH with sharp pointy teeth.

 

[Deleted member 46449]

When I first read this I thought you were taking something from "The Onion".. Well, they are cute BUT I'm surprised they haven't been bred out of existance by interbreeding with non-white squirels. (Cringe), Sorry, I know that didn't sound good but you know what I mean? Has anyone ever been fined to your knowledge for running over one of them?

I had a conversation with one of the city councilmen, actually councilwoman. She told me there hasn't been a fine dished out in a LOT of years and not because nobody has run over a white squirrel. That happens to be one of her pet peeves as a member of the council. She is really ticked about the fact there are so many ordinances that are never enforced. At the top of her list is that they won't enforce the ordinance prohibiting free roaming cats and dogs. Next on her list is that they won't enforce the ordinance that requires grass/weeds to be kept shorter than 12". And then since she rehabilitates white squirrels, she thinks the $750 fine threat they pose is silly if they won't enforce it. I happen to be in a battle with one of my neighbors. He mows his lawn about 5 or 6 times a year. Period. And nothing done about it. I suspect pretty much every town/city has ordinances on the books that are never enforced. The councilwoman I talk to thinks if they aren't going to enforce an ordinance, they should take it off the books. I kind of have to agree with her. It does seem silly to keep all those old ordinances on the books and then not enforce them.

As for breeding out of existence, that's one of the strange things with these white squirrels. This all supposedly started when a guy found two white squirrels kits and took them home. He then bred them with regular gray squirrels which resulted in litters with both gray and white kits. That is also one of the arguments that you hear from the group claiming these are not albinos. They claim, and probably rightfully so, that if it was albinism then it would eventually have been bred out of existence. Since it continues year after year, they say it can't be albinism. It's an interesting argument, for sure.

 

[Deleted member 46449]

Those are cool looking. Like stated by others... would give that guy a pass. Though would be really cool looking on a nice display as well.

Really is sad that the town lets cats run around the neighborhood. There is nothing I hate more than people that let their damn animals run around free. Especially cats up in my area.... they DESTROY the bird population and other wildlife. Those never get a pass if I am out hunting squirrels.

I've never had an urge to have a full head mount done with any of the deer I've shot over the years. I've also never had the urge to have any of the fish I've caught over the years mounted. I'd really love to have one of these white squirrels mounted and on display in my house. Won't ever happen, but I think it would be cool. There is rumor that there are a few white squirrel mounts that exist in homes in town. I've never seen one, but it's local folk lore, I guess. LOL!

I'm another one that gets ticked over people intentionally letting their cat or dog roam freely. I have a Chihuahua and she never leaves my yard - never. If we take her out to do her business, one of us stands at the door and watches her. When I got into a really big argument with a few locals about cats roaming freely, I was told that if I didn't want the free roaming cats using my flower beds and flower pots as cat latrines, I should put mothballs out and then put fences around all my flowers. I couldn't believe anybody was dense enough to tell me I had to do that because they choose to violate a city ordinance and let their cats roam freely. It just so happens that one of the cats that roam freely met his demise a couple of nights ago. Somebody gave it lead poisoning.

 

[Deleted member 46449]

Woogie,
Goes in cycles around here. People trap the feral cats and send to the "no-kill" animal shelter. When the shelter fills the local news station runs a "Clear the Shelter" promotion, cat lovers "adopt" as many as allowed, only to be released back to the wild. Heck of a program. WM

The "powers that be" in this town have said the animal shelter will no longer accept a cat that has been trapped. I tried. They refuse to take them. That was also one of the arguments I made when I was in the heated discussion with several local residents. I simply explained to all of them that if they choose to let their cats roam freely and one enters my yard, I am in my legal right to trap and dispose of the cat as I see fit. Since there is nowhere local to take the cat, disposing of them would be however I see fit. WOW! I was threatened with all sorts of violence. I actually took a printout of one of the threats to the local police chief. Some little gal said she was going to get a couple of her big boyfriends to come to my house and beat the s**t out of me. Seriously, and all over a cat. The police did, at least, take that threat seriously. They made a visit to the little gal's house. Not sure what transpired, but I haven't been threatened since. One other gal posted on Facebook that my wife had been caught torturing and killing a pit bull. You would have to know my wife to realize just how utterly ludicrous that statement was. And again, all because a few people choose to allow their cats to roam freely.

 

[beerthief]

Maybe people should think of free roaming the same as any pest animal . coyotes for instance

 

[Scouty]

I had a conversation with one of the city councilmen, actually councilwoman. She told me there hasn't been a fine dished out in a LOT of years and not because nobody has run over a white squirrel. That happens to be one of her pet peeves as a member of the council. She is really ticked about the fact there are so many ordinances that are never enforced. At the top of her list is that they won't enforce the ordinance prohibiting free roaming cats and dogs. Next on her list is that they won't enforce the ordinance that requires grass/weeds to be kept shorter than 12". And then since she rehabilitates white squirrels, she thinks the $750 fine threat they pose is silly if they won't enforce it. I happen to be in a battle with one of my neighbors. He mows his lawn about 5 or 6 times a year. Period. And nothing done about it. I suspect pretty much every town/city has ordinances on the books that are never enforced. The councilwoman I talk to thinks if they aren't going to enforce an ordinance, they should take it off the books. I kind of have to agree with her. It does seem silly to keep all those old ordinances on the books and then not enforce them.

As for breeding out of existence, that's one of the strange things with these white squirrels. This all supposedly started when a guy found two white squirrels kits and took them home. He then bred them with regular gray squirrels which resulted in litters with both gray and white kits. That is also one of the arguments that you hear from the group claiming these are not albinos. They claim, and probably rightfully so, that if it was albinism then it would eventually have been bred out of existence. Since it continues year after year, they say it can't be albinism. It's an interesting argument, for sure.

It sounds like you have a population of leucistic squirrel and that are also carriers of amelanism.

Both leucism and amelanism are single gene recessive traits but are different loci (aka different genes) so both traits can be expressed in the same individual. But usually the only phenotypic difference is in the eyes.

A white squirrel with pink eyes in this case would mean a squirrel that is homozygous recessive for both leucism and amelanism.

A white squirrel with dark blue eyes or eyes that appear black/brown would suggest a squirrel that is homozygous recessive for leucism and at best heterozygous (aka a carrier) for amelanism.

In this case amelanism more or less means albino.

Normal looking squirrel could be carriers for both traits.