LOL, great pic Zane! I dunno how I missed this thread. Here's my Squirrel story:
When my wife and I first moved into our home we had a few squirrels that lived in the trees in the backyard. We befriended them and began to leave peanuts at the back door for them. In the morning we'd have 3 squirrels climbing all over the sliding door screen waiting for the peanuts. That lead to us actually feeding them by hand. They would actually come right up to us and take peanuts from our hand. It was all so lovely and decidedly suburban nirvana.
Then it happened.....
If we left the back door open for any reason, the squirrels would come in the kitchen and make a mess of it looking for peanuts. One day I was outside cutting the grass, shirtless and suddenly I felt something with claws land on my back! I nearly broke my legs jumping over the lawnmower trying to escape whatever it was that was on my bare back! As I tumbled over the mower I looked back to see the squirrels, coming at me. They jumped all over me, biting my hands trying to get peanuts that weren't there.
Once they had no fear of us, they would literally chase us, or anyone in the backyard, and jump on you trying to get peanuts! We could no longer have picnics or meals on the patio as the squirrels would climb all over the table and us trying to get the food. Guests who had to walk to their cars in our driveway would have to throw peanuts across the yard to divert the squirrels so they could literally run to their cars before they got attacked!
Then it got worse.....
Our squirrel family told all the other squirrels in the area about our charity and the entire neighborhood was innundated by squirrels. Boy were our neighbors angry with us! Of course we had taken pictures and bragged to the neighbors about out "trained" squirrels. Now our neighbors houses, sheds and attics were being invaded by squirrels who had no fear of humans. Across the street from me the squirrels were ripping the facia off my neighbors house!
We were actually issued a warning from Animal Control to stop feeding the squirrels. As if we needed a warning! We had stopped feeding them for months and now the squirrels were angry and wreaked havoc on our house and those around us.
Took years for all the squirrels to leave. 15 years later, we still have descendents of the original family who have taken over our shed. To spite every effort we make to rid the shed of squirrels, they come back. These are not cute little squirrels, these are squirrels that will attack you if you go into the shed!
Though the physical scars have healed, the mental scars are far from fixed.
So, though the picture is cute, I would STRONGLY caution against feeding wild squirrels!
