Hi Terri,

I know for a fact that red-tails catch and eat them, because I witnessed them doing so while working at the Philadelphia Zoo last spring and summer. However, that doesn't mean that it is easy to do so, and if easier meals are available, then that is what the hawks will eat.

I don't particularly like killing things either. I even pick worms off the sidewalk and put them back in the lawn so they don't get squished or dessicated on the sidewalk. But the eastern gray squirrels are an invasive species west of the Mississippi, just as are bullfrogs. As such, I believe that catch and release programs are the absolute worst thing people can do. Either continue to deal with them in your smaller local population, or trap/hunt to kill. By getting rid of them, as much as you can anyway, you actually do make things easier for birds. If you just leave them, you have a clear conscience and are at least not exacerbating the problem. But trapping and releasing, as we have read here, only perpetuates and increases the problem.

Brett A. Wolfe
Seattle, WA

"." <123456.reddyfox at verizon.net> wrote:
Hi,
Since we all love birds, I wonder if it's the right thing to do, kill the
squirrels to protect the birds.
I have never killed anything, so killing them does worry me, guilt?
I read that red tailed hawks can catch them, amazing that there are 2 slow
tame eastern gray squirrels that are at least 4 years old and the hawks are
not able to catch them?
Terri
Woodinville




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