Squirrel News

Squirrel breaks nose of famous Finnish opera singer in Helsinki (Finland)

A squirrel jumped into the spokes of a bicycle being ridden by Finnish opera singer Esa Ruuttunen, causing him to fall and break his nose on the ground.  He had been pedaling on his way to the Helsinki Opera House for the opera Kaarmeen Hetki ("Hour of the Serpent").

The squirrel didn't survive, but I have included a picture of a Finnish squirrel taken from this photo website of a person from Finland.

Furrito the squirrel is the main character in the Sega game Tropical Madness

A Sega game called Tropical Madness features a squirrel named Furrito.  It looks to be similar to Sonic the Hedgehog.

Baby squirrel orphaned by lightning now in good hands in McAlester, Oklahoma

Here's a sad story that has a happy ending.  A bad storm  in McAlester, Oklahoma, struck a tree, shattering tree bark across a radius of 100 feet and killing a momma squirrel in the process.  This abandoned a tiny baby squirrel.  The account of an orphaned baby squirrel in McAlester, Oklahoma, is written up in the McAlester News-Capital.  Here's a snippet:

Renagar asked for Lauretta Fontaine, who he said is an animal adoption specialist.  She held the tiny creature gently in her hands. Fontaine instantly mixed up a bottle of powdered puppy formula and poured it in the bottle. After a few tries, the baby squirrel began sucking hungrily.  “It’s got to be fed every two or three hours,” Fontaine said. “That means I’ll be waking up tonight.”  She also took a towel out of a dryer, so the squirrel could nestle in the warm cloth.

So the squirrel is now in good hands.  Appropriately, they've decided to name the squirrel "Lucky".

Squirrels in Uniontown, Bellingham and Oregon cause power outages for 17,500 in late August, bringing our total to 97,500

In August we covered a number of stories where squirrels were causing power outages.  In fact, we identified 80,000 people temporarily went without power due to squirrels.  Here are some new power outages, most of which occurred in the Pacific Northwest.

• Squirrel causes outage for residents near the Washington County Fair Complex in Oregon.  No estimate of the number of people who went without power was given, so we'll conservatively assume at least 10,000 people.
• Squirrel causes power outage for 5,000 people near Uniontown, PA.
• Squirrel in Bellingham, Washington, causes power outage for 2,500 people.

This total of 17,500 brings our total count of people impacted by power outages due to squirrels since mid-August to 97,500.  This means our next power outage due to squirrels will likely push us over the 100,000 level.

Arkansas City names their albino squirrel "Arky"

As a followup to a previous story about a albino squirrel naming contest in Arkansas City, Kansas, the squirrel's name will by "Arky".  Click on picture to enlarge.  See ArkCity.net for many more albino squirrel pictures.

Albino squirrels are very rare and have recessive gene that causes them to have white hair, skin, hands and feet and pink eyes.

UNT squirrel made famous by Albino Squirrel Preservation Society passes away, students hold memorial

A rare albino squirrel that was known to many students at the University of North Texas (UNT) has died.  A mean hawk swooped down and killed the poor albino squirrel, probably becuase it was jealous of the amount of food the squirrel was being fed.

This squirrel was famous at the University of North Texas, so famous that T.J. Zambrano formed a group called the UNT Albino Squirrel Preservation Society.  Per the picture (seen here, click to enlarge), the UNT Albino Squirrel Preservation Society wa s apparently trying to find a name for the squirrel. 

Zambra no and other members of the UNT Albino Squirrel Preservation Society recently met in a courtyard that was the squirrel's "favorite scampering spot".

Students at UNT say that seeing the albino squirrel before an exam would bring them good luck.

While albino squirrels are indeed white squirrels, not all white squirrels are albino squirrels.  True albino squirrels have a recessive gene that limits pigmentation all over, including the eyes.  This is why albino squirrels also have pink eyes and white skin, hands and feet.

The poster in this picture made by the UNT Albino Sq uirrel Preservation Society says that the odd a squirrel will be born albino is 1 in 100,000.