Black Arctic Ground Squirrels

I expected my world to change in Yukon, and I would certainly be disappointed if it didn't. Working at the Preserve, as I have written, my day jumps from fundraising to marketing to government relations to bill paying to crisis management (usually related to staff not animals) to goat catching and elk herding to greeting visitors to event planning - all within minutes. This kind of change, this kind of diversity is exactly what I love in my day and it makes me very excited to get to work every morning.

I have gotten used to being surprised all the time, but even I remain surprised by how much of my days have been dedicated lately to black arctic ground squirrels. Let's be completely honest - until 2 weeks ago, I didn't even know there WAS such a thing as black ground squirrels. But they exist, and they are rare, and they are very cute and I am trying desperately to help the population expand.

So this is how my life goes these days. A couple of weeks ago, a man about an hour south of Whitehorse declared he had too many black ground squirrels on his property and he wanted to get rid of them. CBC North carried the story, interviewing the Wildlife Viewing Biologist (our friend Bruce) for Yukon about it, and he recommended moving squirrels to the Preserve. A full 24 or more hours later, I called Bruce on another topic and found this out.

The next week was relatively quiet, although I met with both the Department of the Environment and my Board to see if this was even possible, and with my own staff to determine where we could house them, how we would keep them from breeding with the brown ground squirrels that live everywhere on the Preserve, and if we could set it up so people can watch them burrowing. And then....

I was walking in to TD Bank to arrange signing authority when CBC called. The reporter who had originally followed the story wanted to get my position on taking the squirrels, to find out what we were doing to that affect and then, just when I thought my taped interview was going ok, pulled out - "rumour has it they have all been killed, are you aware of this? what is your next step?" Ack!

Some hours later, I contacted the man to learn that 10 (of maybe 20) had, in fact, been trapped (for a coat) and he wasn't particularly interested in giving up anymore right now but he'd take my name for future reference - our only hope being that there are enough adults left to care for at least some babies that have likely been born and are growing underground.

Since then, crazy, crazy! A Conservation Officer (COs) went to meet the man on Tuesday and to explore our options of live trapping some - but I haven't heard anything since. Although we have also heard the rumour that his 2 neighbours also have some squirrels on their property - one of which does not like them, one of which does. Good news knowing there are a few more alive, but how to do our part for species conservation? My vet has been talking with other COs trying to explore our options - but they can't even decide if ground squirrels fall under the wildlife act or if they are rodents and, consequently, free game. (excuse the expression). And still, CBC continues to call for news....I just wish I had something to say! Perhaps tomorrow when I perch in the offices of the COs until we get an answer that I like!

Squirrels. Who knew.