Hold Your Fire!!

I believe that backyard creatures (squirrels, birds, ect.) should not be shot.

A few years ago, my house was built in an area that used to be woodland. As you can imagine there are many creatures that reside

in the wooded area around my home. Those creatures would include birds, foxes, raccoons, and the gray squirrel. The gray

squirrel is one of the most mistreated and misunderstood of those animals. For a long time squirrels have been shot, trapped

and tormented in many other ways. Even though it is illegal, many people shoot, and kill, squirrels for fun.

I’ll admit, I used to shoot squirrels with BB guns, and I used to throw rocks at squirrels for fun, but then an event

happened that changed my view on squirrels forever.

When tropical storm Hanna hit, we had some nasty weather. It was rainy and windy. It was a miserable day. For no reason

I looked out the window, and saw my cat attacking a little fur ball. I went outside to see what it was. It was a baby squirrel

that must have fallen out of his nest in the high winds. I took the squirrel inside, cleaned up the wounds, and put it in a

little birdcage. When I was done with the squirrel, I left to continue what I was doing previously. I looked out the window

again, and saw my cat harassing another tiny ball of fur. I went outside, pulled the small animal out of my cat’s jaws, and

discovered it was another baby squirrel. I took him in, cleaned him up, and then put him in the same birdcage as the other baby

squirrel.

After I cleaned up the squirrels wounds and put them in the cage, I went on the Internet to do some research on how to

take care of baby squirrels. When I found out all the supplies I would need to take care of squirrels, I rounded up the family,

and went to the local pet store were we purchased the supplies.

My family and I cared for those squirrels for about a week. When the shelter opened back up, we took them there so they

could live a good life.

In the short week we had the squirrels, I learned a lot about them. One thing I learned is that squirrels are loving and

affectionate creatures. The two squirrels would cuddle and play with each other all day. Another characteristic of squirrels I

didn’t know about is they are extremely intelligent. The squirrels figured out who the feeder (my mom) was extremely fast.

During the short week we had the squirrels I realized one main thing. The squirrels acted like little humans. I realized

we are not too different from squirrels. This was a shock. From then on, I looked at squirrels not as a target for BB gun

practice, but a living creature that has feelings. This is why I believe innocent backyard creatures should not be shot.