By Rainbow Starr
Environmental Reporter
VENICE GARDENS, FLORIDA - A local man caught more than he bargained for when he set traps for the squirrels that were eating his mangoes.
About a half dozen neighbors protested against the traps on Friday. They alleged that the traps break squirrel tails and the trapper drowns the squirrels. The trapper said he only shot one squirrel and threw the carcass in a nearby canal. Mostly, he relocates the squirrels safely to another parcel of his land. An experienced hunter, he said this practice is approved by the state Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
The trapper also set camouflaged motion-activated cameras in his mango tree. He said they captured photos of neighbors trespassing on his property to free squirrels from his traps. On Friday, neighbors complained that the trapper was depleting wildlife in their neighborhood, which is a designated bird sanctuary. They gave written complaints to a Sarasota County Animal Services officer. The officer said she did not detect any legal violations and would pass the buck up to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
As an experienced hunter, the trapper should've realized that planting mango trees created a new ecosystem that started an extensive food chain. The mangoes attracted squirrels. The squirrels attracted squirrel traps. The squirrel traps attracted animal lovers. The animal lovers attracted the County Animal Services Officer. And now, the county officer will attract the state Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Next comes a US Forest Ranger, and then the United Nations World Health Organization.
Isn't it beautiful, how everyone on Mother Earth is connected by a worldwide web of life and government bureaucracies?
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