Yggdrasil Urban Wildlife Rescue (YUWR) and Education Center

Thank you to EVERYONE who wrote letters, called, and spread the word against the crushing of the squirrels in Cuesta Park in Mountain View.

For those of you just reading this, the squirrels in a park in mountain view had become accustomed to being fed by humans in the park and when this summer’s juveniles started dispersing from Mom’s nest, in their angst they became grab-by and insistent with people, jumping into strollers for cookies stored there, and biting fingers – which look like Peanuts. The result was an alarmist response, saying that the squirrels were aggressive and attacking people. A 4-year old child was forced to get unnecessary and painful rabies shots even though Tree Squirrels don’t transmit rabies to humans (Check out the http://www.cdc.gov/ for verification of this fact!).

Well, here is the latest on the Mountain View Squirrels. A reprieve, for now….

Mountain View relents on plan to kill aggressive squirrels
Associated Press
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – City officials are relenting on a plan to trap and kill aggressive squirrels that have been attacking humans in a popular park.

The city does not have any immediate plans to arm the steel traps placed in the trees at Cuesta Park two weeks ago, David Muela, the city’s community services director, said Friday.

The city previously said it had no choice but to kill the squirrels after three people – including a 4-year-old boy – were bitten inside the park.

The animals were jumping inside baby strollers, opening food bags and even scratching people giving them handouts including a steady diet of muffins and leftover children’s treats, officials said.

The city hired a pest-control company to set the tube traps, which would crush the squirrels while keeping them from public view.

However, there have been no new attacks since a no-food zone was declared around the children’s play area, park ranger patrols were increased, and a public education program was launched, Muela said.

“People seem to be getting the message,” he said.

The plan to kill the squirrels caused an outcry from animal lovers, who bombarded City Hall with hundreds of letters, phone calls and e-mails.

Animal rights groups also complained, with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals warning the city it could be vulnerable to lawsuits if endangered wildlife were also killed.

Muela said the city is still exploring its options and has not ruled out arming the traps if the attacks start again.

SOLANO AVENUE STROLL:
We did our first neighborhood fund-raising/volunteer fair this month.
We received a lot of interest and a good amount of donations.
If only we could do these more often!

The Solano Avenue Stroll is a neighborhood street fair. We had a booth with our informational boards as well as flyers and volunteer-sign-up sheets. We offered photographs of wildlife as well as funny squirrel mugs and rainbow-makers in exchange for donations.

We are restructuring our volunteer orientation program to get new people in here as soon as possible and hope to have an orientation up within the next 2 weeks. We also want to post a messag eboard here on our website to encourage group conversation among volunteers. We shall see how this goes… The Message board is posted at: http://yuwr.proboards61.com/

Thank you to all those at the fair who supported us by making a donation and/or signing up on our volunteer sheets.

Thank you to Janie Barnes for initiating our participation.

Thank you to Dr. Alex Devigal, DDS, for sponsoring our booth at the fair.

Thank you to Sasha McGowen, and her friends, who volunteered their time to paint faces to raise donations, and who stayed on with an interest in regular volunteering!

Thank you also to the volunteers who came out to give me a hug, bring me food and drink, and make sure I was able to take bathroom breaks throughout the day 🙂

We are still on the lookout for a fund-raiser / grantwriter to help keep this operation operating.

Also, if you were at the fair and received or newsletter, please sign up and shop at Albertson’s or with eScript. It costs you a few minutes of your time and earns funding for us. Thank you