attack of the killer tree rats

[Dirk Koopman]

On Thu, 2006-01-26 at 17:42 -0500, DESIKAT3 at aol.com wrote:
> Besides, what have these creatures done to you?
> 

To list some things (over the years):

1. They have sat on a walnut tree and thrown nuts, very accurately, and
hit me on the head after a hard night in my computer room in my back
garden in Surbiton. 

2. They have keep me and various neighbours up half the night with some
of their squabbles.

3. They have attacked, at least, the two cats I once part owned and
injured one of them. Mind you, to be fair, the cat in question was
probably stalking them and was about to find out what I did in the next
point. She was a very serious hunter.  

4. They have scratched and bitten me after I made the fatal error of
assuming the publicity on squirrels, put out by the likes of you, bore
any semblance of reality.

5. They carry nasty diseases both for red squirrels and humans (IIRC
Weills and Rabies), so I had have tests to make sure I didn't have the
former (this was all 30 years ago, so the details are a bit hazy).

6. They have nearly destroyed a number of small trees in one of the
gardens I once had (by eating all the shoots in spring).

7. After I shot them, they provided me with some acceptable squirrel
sate (not as good as goat, but then there is nothing as good as goat for
sateing).

Oh and by the way, in case you have not been keeping up, they have
nearly completely destroyed the native red squirrel population in
mainland UK. That reason, alone, probably outweighs any I may have. 
-- 
Dirk Koopman <djk at tobit.co.uk>