ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Love them or hate them, squirrels are fascinating creatures. They can be a nuisance sometimes, especially if they get in your house or raid your bird feeders. But they are also very important to the environment and a lot of fun to watch.
NY State is home to five different species of squirrels. One of the most common is the Red Squirrel, smaller than their cousin, the Eastern Grey Squirrel, this diminutive squirrel comes with a spirited personality.
Bernadette Clabeaux is the Founder of WNY Raptor & Wildlife Care in Orchard Park.
"They're red, they've got their fluffy tail, they're gorgeous animals, they're fun to watch. I love them the most because they're spunky and feisty, and so they're always really entertaining to watch."
The reason for their aggressive behavior is that the Reds are very territorial, and it's critical to their survival.
" The food that they're collecting is going to be coming from that area, so they need to protect it, and one way they've evolved and adapted is to be territorial, so they fight for their food. A lot more aggressive than Greys," Clabeaux explains.
All squirrels are important to the environment. The forest ecology depends on them.
"They do act as little tree planters when they forget where they cache pine nuts or seeds," Says Clabeaux." They're going to occasionally forget where they planted them or cached them, and those seeds are going to grow into trees that will create the forest dynamics that we see around us."
WNY Raptor & Wildlife Care in Orchard Park recently took six baby squirrels into their care. Clabeaux describes how that happened.
"Good Samaritan Chanel she gave us a call, and she was moving a camper or her RV, and she noticed that something and fallen out of the propane tank area, and she looked and she was like "oh my goodness, that's a baby squirrel, and they did some digging, she looked underneath, and sure enough, there was a whole nest of baby Red Squirrels, and she found some help for them."
These youngsters will be released next Spring, there to remind us that even the smallest animals have an important role to play in the big picture that is our Mother Earth.
"Food webs and dynamics, how these organisms interact, they've evolved for millions of years, these relationships, and they're all very important, we do need to protect them, and make sure we do care, even about the smallest creatures, we do have to care about them."
For a link to WNY Raptor & Wildlife Care, click here.