One of our local squirrels White Belly was killed by a car today.
It rained this morning and her body was lying on the wet pavement. She looked normal, except there was a bit of blood pooled near her mouth.
When I picked her up with a shovel her body rolled over revealing the white stripe on her stomach.
When you get to know these animals like we do, when they are no longer just “a squirrel” but an individual whose personality and life history is known to you and tied to you in a small way, the task of picking them up off the pavement is made more difficult.
This is the small risk we take in getting to know them.
They take much larger risks just being urban squirrels, raising their families in the city, and having to cross roads in front of cars that rarely slow down to let them pass.
She had a nice personality. We would often see her lazing around in our backyard stretched out flat on the fence and dozing in the sun.
If we happened to be in the yard when she was lounging around like this, she’d suddenly spot us with a look that seemed to mean: “Oh hi! I didn’t see you there!,” and go right on laying there while we walked by only a few feet away.
Here is one of the last photos we have of her.
