road kill

Robert Bruce said:

In any case, if you've ever seen one close up (the pine
forests at Formby in Merseyside is a good place in
traditional roadie terretory) you'll know that they're
scrawny little things and not so cute as you'd expect.

They are still there? I remeber being taken there when i was
still in short trousers to see them (over 40 mumble mumble
years ago). I had an aunt who lived in Formby and i had
travelled up by steam train.

John B

"Mark Thompson" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

A pal of mine is a Parkie, and she regularly distresses
the more sensitive kids on school visits by describing
grey squirrels along the lines of "rat with good PR".

People say that as if it makes 'em bad. Rats are lovely
little things.

Rats are humans biggest enemy after ourselves and viruses.
They are directly responsible for a large amount of 3rd
world poverty, destroying over 60% of crops produced, and
about doubling the cost of food production.

They also destroy biodiversity by waging relentless war on
birds, insects, and other mammals.

Quoted message said:

Kind of. They're like pigeons but they don't [censored] on
your head.

Yeah, but they pollute your food and your environment and in
some cases they spread airborne viruses that are fatal to
humans. Lovely chaps.

Be careful what you wish for.
--
Mark South: World Citizen, Net Denizen

Peter Clinch <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Colin Blackburn said:

Odd term. Vermin describes animals that are destructive
to crops, game birds and domestic animals, ie animals
that farmers and gamekeepers don't like. Not sure the
grey squirrel qualifies.

A pal of mine is a Parkie, and she regularly distresses
the more sensitive kids on school visits by describing
grey squirrels along the lines of "rat with good PR".

While visiting another pal who was working as a ranger in
the Grand Canyon, we were taking a stroll along the rim
and came across a couple of touroids feeding the squirrels
next to a "please do not feed the squirrels" sign. Dave
(not in uniform) asked them to desist, they said something
about them being so cute and carried on. Dave tries #2
gambit: "Do you know that the squirrels in this park carry
bubonic plague?" (they do, fact fans!). That seemed to
have more effect, Exit touroids stage left.

Tilgate park in Crawley has a really neat little wildlife
centre with wild (ish) red squirrels (AWWWW!); they can get
out of their cage through a hole which is too big for grey
ones to get in and eat their food, there are also squirrel
feeders on the trees outside which have a trapdoor, if grey
squirrels try to get into them they are too heavy and fall
out, so they have all gone elsewhere and left the reds to
it.There are also albino ones in the wild, lack of greys
keeps predators away. Also some neat MTB trails.

mae <[email hidden]> wedi ysgrifennu:

Quoted message said:

Robert Bruce said:

In any case, if you've ever seen one close up (the pine
forests at Formby in Merseyside is a good place in
traditional roadie terretory) you'll know that they're
scrawny little things and not so cute as you'd expect.

They are still there?

Yes, they're still there. At least they were at this time
last year. Protected by the fact that there are no deciduous
woods for many miles around. Peter Clinch elsewhere in this
thread explains that grey squirrels don't like coniferous
forests much.

Quoted message said:

I remeber being taken there when i was still in short
trousers to see them (over 40 mumble mumble years ago). I
had an aunt who lived in Formby and i had travelled up by
steam train.

An Aunt in Formby, now there's crachach. The railway is now
part of MerseyRail's Northern Line and all of the trains
smell of [censored].

--
Rob

Please keep conversations in the newsgroup so that all may
contribute and benefit.

Robert Bruce said:

An Aunt in Formby, now there's crachach. The railway is
now part of MerseyRail's Northern Line and all of the
trains smell of [censored].

Perhaps that's why she moved to Richmond. But then the
trains are SWT and smell of worse :-(

John B

Quoted message said:

What would anyone else have done

I would have liked to have killed the animal, because
there's no way it'll recover from such an injury and it's
in misery.

But how to do it?

I've wondered about this problem, too.

I cycle with a minimal set of bike tools. I wonder if it's
possible to drive a screwdriver into the animals brain to
provide a quick and painless death?

--
Callas

Callas said:

I cycle with a minimal set of bike tools. I wonder if it's
possible to drive a screwdriver into the animals brain to
provide a quick and painless death?

If I weren't such a coward, I'd wring its neck. Isn't that
the done thing?

Callas said:

I cycle with a minimal set of bike tools. I wonder if it's
possible to drive a screwdriver into the animals brain to
provide a quick and painless death?

Can't you test it on a petrolhead first? ;-)

John B

in message <[email hidden]>, Robert Bruce

(') said:

In any case, if you've ever seen one close up (the pine
forests at Formby in Merseyside is a good place in
traditional roadie terretory) you'll know that they're
scrawny little things and not so cute as you'd expect.

I'm fortunate to live in one of those places where reds are
still common, so I see them often and photograph them now
and again, as here <URL:http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/tmp/squirrel1-
detail.jpg>.

I defy you to say he's either scrawny or not cute.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke)
jasmine.org.uk~simonOpen ↗

Error 1109: There is no message for this error

Dave Larrington said:

It appears that I am not to be made redundant after all,
but rather to receive a New Job with More Money and all
the Womp Rats I can eat. AND I get to trouser the fat
bribe they gave me to stay an extra three months. Yay!

Indeed! Splendiferous news!

Except possibly for the Womp Rats which don't sound
particularly appetising, unless you're a Jawa.

Have some Conga Rats instead! :-)

--
Carol "You wouldn't like me when I'm happy." - Angel

On Fri, 11 Jun 2004 18:00:13 +0100, Callas <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

What would anyone else have done

I would have liked to have killed the animal, because
there's no way it'll recover from such an injury and it's
in misery.

But how to do it?

I've wondered about this problem, too.

I cycle with a minimal set of bike tools. I wonder if it's
possible to drive a screwdriver into the animals brain to
provide a quick and painless death?

A standard method of suicide in Oxbridge's examination halls
is to stick a pencil up your nose then slam your face,
pencil first, down on the table. I have heard that it is a
quick and painless method of killing oneself, but how anyone
knows, I am not quite sure.

So, in this case, the thing to do would be to stick a small
allen key up the hapless squirrel's nose and bang it in hard
with a locally available rock.

On 11/6/04 9:37 pm, in article [email hidden],

Gonzalez said:

On Fri, 11 Jun 2004 18:00:13 +0100, Callas
<[email hidden]> wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

What would anyone else have done

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I would have liked to have killed the animal, because
there's no way it'll recover from such an injury and it's
in misery.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

But how to do it?

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I've wondered about this problem, too.

Quoted message said:

So, in this case, the thing to do would be to stick a
small allen key up the hapless squirrel's nose and bang it
in hard with a locally available rock.

Use the technique used for killing rats in the lab..

grab the tail where it exits the body and swing rapidly ,
bringing the neck in contact with a hard edge (top tube of
the bike would do.) This will break the neck and kill the
creature instantly.

..d

in message <[email hidden]>, Trevor Barton

(') said:

David Off said:

More pop-anti-grey-squirrel PR. You could say that
humans, dogs or cats are an introduced species doing a
good job of wiping out the native wildlife.

Yeah, you have to draw a line somewhere, otherwise all
species reduce to being non-native because originally the
earth was popilated only by pond-slime precursors! 1000
years or so is plently long enough for the rabbit to be
considered native in the UK, but 100 years or so is not
long enough for it to be considered native in Australia.
In the former instance, it's integrated and in balance
with the rest of the ecosystem.

I would not agree in the least. Mind you, it's possible that
rabbits would be in balance with the rest of the ecosystem
if people didn't go around killing their natural predators.
But since they do, rabbits are in suitable habitats a hugely
destructive plague, eroding hillsides and destroying
forests. Mind you, the same can be said of sheep (which also
aren't native but have been here for far longer) and red
deer (which probably are native by any reasonable
definition).

Bring back the wolf, I says. And I'm not joking.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke)
jasmine.org.uk~simonOpen ↗

;; better than your average performing
pineapple

Gonzalez said:

A standard method of suicide in Oxbridge's examination
halls is to stick a pencil up your nose then slam your
face, pencil first, down on the table. I have heard that
it is a quick and painless method of killing oneself, but
how anyone knows, I am not quite sure.

I thought it was a standard story for the students to amuse
themselves with.

James

Reply to Dave Larrington

Quoted message said:

Yay! Oddly enough, the Chief Evil SCIENCE Squirrel was
here yesterday, so if James' injured squirrel was a touch
on the portly side, swearing in 'melican and answering to
the name of "Craig Lathrop"...

It appears that I am not to be made redundant after all,
but rather to receive a New Job with More Money and all
the Womp Rats I can eat

Assuming that the Evil Squirrels don't read u.r.c. ;-)

--
Mark, UK. We hope to hear him swear, we love to hear him
squeak, We like to see him biting fingers in his horny beak.

In "]news:[email hidden],
Gonzalez <[email hidden]> typed:

Quoted message said:

A standard method of suicide in Oxbridge's examination
halls is to stick a pencil up your nose then slam your
face, pencil first, down on the table. I have heard that
it is a quick and painless method of killing oneself, but
how anyone knows, I am not quite sure.

snopes.compencils.aspOpen ↗

In message
<[email hidden]>, Graeme
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

Grey squirrels are an introduced species (from America) and
they are doing a very succesful job of ousting our native
red squirrels as they are bigger and more agressive.

While it is true that the Grey has lead to the loss of the
Red in most areas of the UK, it's not because they are more
aggressive and 'drive' them out.

The main reason is that Greys are much less fussy eaters,
they have a much wider diet, Reds have a more restricted
diet, so the Greys basically out compete the Reds for food
in most areas -though Reds seems to prefer Pine woods, so do
better there.

--
Chris French, Leeds

In message <MPG.1b33f57c7a123eb09896f5@news-
east.giganews.com>, Callas <[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

What would anyone else have done

I would have liked to have killed the animal, because
there's no way it'll recover from such an injury and it's
in misery.

But how to do it?

I've wondered about this problem, too.

I cycle with a minimal set of bike tools. I wonder if it's
possible to drive a screwdriver into the animals brain to
provide a quick and painless death?

For a squirrel, if you stamp on it's skull you will crush it
easily enough and kill it instantly, but it's a bit messy
and unpleasant.

Or pick it up and pull it's neck - though if you've not done
it before (I used to breed rabbits so had plenty of
practise) it's probably not that easy to do.

For a squirrel, picking it up and whacking it's head/neck
down on the kerb or whatever, would also do the job.
--
Chris French, Leeds

John Hearns <[email hidden]> wrote in
:"]news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

I might be wrong - but I've never heard that the holes
were rabbit holes.

So might I, but when has anyone on URC let the truth get in
the way of a good story? :-)

Graeme

"Tony B" <[email hidden]> wrote in
:"]news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

Hopefully you don't cross the species barrier with that
philosophy, no doubt there will be a few peeps with
French/Italian surnames hiding from you if you do...

With my mother having the maiden name of Fleming, I'd be
stamping on my own head (I've tried it, I'm not that
flexible). :-)

Graeme