Squirrel Hustle

Tags

urban wildlife

**I was inspired by my husband to write this brief photographic tribute to urban squirrels.  None of these photographs I have taken myself (though I wish!) so I gave credit to the sites where I’ve found them.**

You have to be adaptive to be an urban animal

Learning what to eat from a squirrel

Tags

Charlotte, edible landscape, foraging ecology, gray squirrel, pomes, public information, Queen City, urban foraging, wildlife food

It’s the second week of May.  The sun is not overbearing and the clouds cast shade to aid the wind’s mild breeze.

The tree's leaves and branches

Casual trees with leaves indicative of

the rosaceae stand in a row along the busy street that borders my home.  No sidewalks exist along this street, just dirt paths impacted into rugged grass.    It’s early in the day, and I’m looking for breakfast before I start the day writing, volunteering, and looking for employment.  I enter the UNCC campus and come across a petite tree, with a body like a crepe myrtle.  I don’t recognize this tree or the species this tree belongs to.  My eyes wander to the squirrel sitting in the tree.  She’s nibbling on a small magenta pome.  I sit on the grassy patch in a small grove, watching her eat.  Robins and mockingbirds are also present, but only a male robin comes to the tree and takes a fruit.  From what tree could they possibly be eating?  I initially think hawthorn, but the leaves have no toothed edges.

What’s the deal with animal use?

Tags

abolition, animal emancipation, animal exploitation, animal liberation, animal oppression, animal rights, animal suffering, animal use, anti-oppression, civilization, cooperation, imperialism, indigenous knowledge, mutualism, reciprocity, sacred ecology, traditional ecological knowledge, veganism

In global civilization, where the various human uses of nonhuman animals results in immense animal oppression, concerned activists are looking for a way to deal.  The abolitionist animal liberation agenda seeks to end all forms of animal use.  The abolitionist approach also states that all animal use is driven by the conceptualization of animals as property.  In other words, the commodification of animals leads to animal use, i.e. animal exploitation.