A bridge too fur
Westboro squirrel ‘deportations’ get fast reaction
When news broke that a few Westboro residents drive squirrels across the river to Gatineau, the world noticed.
The Citizen told the crossborder squirrel story Tuesday. It was on TV news in Toronto the next day, and reached Australia by Wednesday:
“Canadians illegally relocate squirrels,” SkyNews proclaimed.
“Residents of an upscale Ottawa neighbourhood have been spiriting unwanted squirrels across a river into Quebec province and dumping them there, a local newspaper reports.”
The Aussies had to stop and explain a feeble joke about the squirrels needing to learn French.
In Britain, the Telegraph published it, with a photo of a European squirrel.
Meanwhile reaction in Ottawa was also quick. Here are some excerpts:
Here’s reader Denis Boucher, in Gatineau: “So that’s where they come from! Count on me, you’ll get them back, every single one.
“That’s insulting to shuffle your problem onto someone else.
“The Westboro uppercrust is in for a surprise. There will be a standing complaint at the Department of Natural Resources and le Ministère de la Faune du Québec.”
From reader Chris Hanlon, this email: “hummmmm, a coincidence, I have been hearing rumours for quite some time that the good folks of west Quebec are bringing their humanely trapped raccoons, squirrels and porcupines from west Quebec to Westboro — for years — must be in the tens of thousands by now — didn’t think the good folks in Westboro would mind.”
And here’s Marthe Ledoux, who doesn’t say where she lives but has a keen sense of humour: “HAHAHAHA I know a guy that deports squirrels from Quebec to Ottawa via the Champlain bridge and that since many years..... HAHAHAHA.”
Finally, Citizen reporter Chloe Fedio: “My friend’s mom (in Edmonton) once put out a trap to catch critters (probably skunks).
She caught something and drove out to the woods near the river and opened the trap only to realize that she had released her neighbour’s cat — far, far from home. Whoops.