Toronto Uncovered

Posts Tagged ‘Pests’

Ever since I was about seven or eight years old I have had a very serious and very real fear of rodents. I track this back to the year  my family and I moved to Aurora. We built a house in an undeveloped area and were literally the first family on the block. Our house backed onto  large fields,  inhabited by mice of the same distinction.  For the first  year or two of living there we had a pretty serious mouse problem. This included, but was not limited to, mice in the garage, basement, closets, and garbage. The most cunning of their hiding places was our dishwasher. I absolutely hated putting dishes into the dishwasher because you never knew when one would spring out and attack you. I got into the habit of shaking the cupboard and dishwasher doors before opening them – as a warning to my little friends.

You might be wondering what this has to do with Toronto and what I am supposed to be uncovering.  I’m getting to that. My fear of rodents has not died out since my more formative years (although it is no longer aroused as frequently). There are two times of year in Toronto when my fear is most pronounced: Fall and Spring, also known as nut hiding and nut scavenging seasons.  During this time, the squirrels are out with a vengeance. Every park is completely covered with their dark masses and bushy tails. I would like to be able to say that it doesn’t really bother me, and that when I walk through the parks I don’t actually stop when I see one in my path, but since I promised not to lie when I started this blog, I cannot.  I know it sounds a little ridiculous, but I just can’t help it.

The only thing that I hate more than the actual squirrels themselves are the people who think that feeding them, and thus aiding their pestilent species, is not only acceptable but a fun and friendly pastime.  I find this disturbing on a few levels: First of all, have you seen these squirrels? They are not cute. They are black rats with bushy tails. Full stop. Second, they are pests, not pets. I know these two words sound the same, but they are quite different.  A couple years ago I was at Queens Park for the April 20th “parade”. Having just indulged myself, I sat back and relaxed with some friends under a tree. Soon after I noticed there was some excitement going on in the group next to us and looked over and realized (to my horror) that some genius had captured a baby squirrel and was treating it like a pet, letting it run over his shoulders and keeping it in the back of his hood. He was going from group to group showing off his new “friend”, letting people hold and pet it. Then he came to our group. Already feeling a little bit paranoid, this did not sit well with me. Observing my obvious discomfort he came closer trying to get me to reach out and touch it which led to a mini freak out on my part.

One of my major pet peeves is people who feed the pests of Toronto – this includes pigeons, squirrels, raccoons and any other species that have left (or been forced from) their natural habitat to pilfer in our own.  If you are one of these people, please recognize that you are doing anyone any favours. If these animals feel they can rely on humans to feed them, the pest problem will continue to multiply increasing the spread of germs and disease. While this post took on the form of my first rant on Toronto Uncovered, the pest problem is a serious one within Toronto – don’t believe me?  Search “pests” at www.toronto.com for stats and info.