The chewing squirrel

We must have about 20 or so gray squirrels that feast themselves on the bird seed I distribute each morning in both the front and back of our house. Some are smarter than others.

We have this one squirrel (well, I hope it's just one) who's a chewer. We've often caught it (him? her?) gnawing at the black plastic cover of the electric cable that goes from the house to an electricity post in the back alley. Not a good idea, to say the least, especially for the squirrel who risks becoming fried squirrel. But also for those of us who must run the air conditioning on a daily basis in 90-plus-degree weather.

My husband recently espied what was likely the same idiotic squirrel gnawing at our gutter in the highest point of the house. It gnawed and gnawed until he shooed her away by yelling from the ground.

And, today, my husband again had to shoo a chewing squirrel who had decided that the bark of our new young and gloriously beautiful green Japanese Maple was its tasty morsel. My husband yelled and shooed until he actually had to go outside and chase the chewing squirrel away!

I know young dogs need to chew on things and I remember how a not-yet-two-years-old Rusty gnawed at the corners of the wood benches on our covered patio in Puerto Rico. He also had a favorite ratty toy, Bojangles, which came with him when we rescued him. Rusty loved to chew on that ugly thing and he'd fetch it just as many times as you threw it for him to get until he became older and wiser and Bojangles disappeared (probably taken away by some squirrel, except we don't have squirrels in Puerto Rico).

But squirrels who chew electric wires, gutters and the bark of young, recently planted trees? I'd never heard of that before. I hope that just as it was with Rusty, this is just a phase for that hopefully young and stupid squirrel.

If not, that squirrel (and I hope it's the same one and not an epidemic of chewing ones!) is going to be at war with us for a long, long time.