Day 179 of a Photo a Day: Squirrellin' Around

Another day filled with errands; the highlights were probably talking to the great Megan Miller on the phone finally and seeing the lovely JM Franchteau to pick up some mail from my old house at Robert Street. It was there that I saw this excellent squirrel.

Squirrels are very trusting animals, and have been cute enough to warrant being fed by humans for a long time. Because of this, squirrels will often eat right out of a person's hand.

I don't know how prevalent it is in Toronto, but I recall learning some fun facts about squirrels in British Columbia. In BC, the majority of hospital visits related to injuries caused by wild animals were not in fact bear clawings or cougar attacks, but rabies and other diseases caused by the bites inflicted as humans fed wild squirrels and chipmunks. It made up over 80% of visits, but I think it may have been closer to 90%. It's always funny to see how scared tourits become because of remote possibilities like a bear attack when the animal that's far more likely to send them to the hospital is a tiny furry rodent.

Big predators get a bad rep. There are so many other real dangers out there. In Toronto, it might not be squirrels, but cars can be pretty scary.