Black Squirrels

Black squirrels are a common sight in Council Bluffs. Residents take pride in the unique creatures, while visitors are entranced by these loveable, scampering rodents. Grey, along with red, squirrels are common throughout the United States, but Council Bluffs is one of the few places with such a well established black squirrel population.

Legend has it that the rare creatures arrived here with immigrants who released squirrels brought from their native Germany in downtown Bayliss Park. While this is an enchanting tale, John James Audubon's records mention black squirrel sighting in the area as early as 1843.

Woman Admits to Worrying Squirrel

A Council Bluffs woman plead guilty in Pottawattamie County Associate District Court to worrying a black squirrel. She initially was ticketed for trespassing after hours in Fairmount Park, but her attorney offered to plead guilty to the squirrel charge instead. "It fits the facts," he said. "She drove into the park and the squirrel ran away."

A city ordinance makes it illegal to annoy, worry, maim, injure or kill any black squirrel.

In the past, people had been fined for injuring or killing the animals. According to the Assistant City Attorney, to the best of his knowledge, this was the first time anyone had ever been fined for worrying a black squirrel. The Assistant City Attorney was uncertain about the difference between annoying a black squirrel and worrying one, but said the penalty -- a fine of up to $100 and up to 30 days in jail -- was the same, regardless. "She admitted to it," he said, "so it wasn't necessary to bring in the squirrel to testify as to its frame of mind."

Actually, the ordinance is there to protect black squirrels, which are source of pride and pleasure to city residents. The statute was re-enacted in 1982, but it's been around for quite a long time. In fact, the ordinance was pushed through in 1975 by a councilwoman. There had been a city ordinance prohibiting killing of squirrels before that, but it didn't specifically mention black squirrels.

The squirrels commonly seen around the city are black colored fox squirrels (sciurus niger) and have been in the area for quite some time. Naturalist John James Audubon speaks of a friend shooting one in 1843 in the vicinity of Council Bluffs.

The woman that worried the squirrel was fined $100 plus $55 in court costs. The penalty was the equivalent to that for criminal trespass. The woman had just returned to Council Bluffs after attending college and was unaware of the ordinance closing Fairmount Park after dark when she drove up there to show a friend the view.

She said she had not actually seen the black squirrel, because her attention was focused on the police car that pulled in behind her and started flashing its lights. Although the squirrel maintained a low profile, she was sure the squirrel was worried when it saw that she and her boyfriend were going to get a ticket for criminal trespassing. The conviction for worrying squirrels would not give her a criminal trespassing conviction. And, it is hoped Fairmount Park's black squirrels would rest easier knowing that she had paid her debt to society and put them at ease to know that their rights are being protected.

[Nonpareil, Council Bluffs, Iowa, Published July 31, 1994, submitted by Ann]

Pet Squirrel Is Dead

Cur Kills Mother of Baliss Park Squirrels
To Enforce Rule Against Dogs

Park Commissioner Graham is sadly mourning the death of his favorite park squirrel. The little animal had its home in Bayliss Park, and came there a timid stranger more than twelve years ago. It has successfully evaded the attacks of dogs of low and high degree, but at last it has fallen a victim to a mangy cur that sprang upon it unaware the other morning, caught it by the back and broke its spine. When Mr. Graham found it, it was in the last throes of an agonizing death, leaving a nest full of motherless little ones.

"If that little squirrel was mine I wouldn't have taken $500 for it," said Commissioner Graham yesterday. "For years I have went into the park without it coming to meet me. It would climb all over me, searching my pockets for something to eat. I have known it for twelve years, and I don't know how much longer it had made its home in the park, only that it was the first one to become tame enough to stay there. She has been the mother of nearly all the squirrels that have since inhabited the park, and was a marvelously cunning and intelligent little creature.

"These constant attacks will make it necessary for the strict enforcement of the park rules, and we want the people who own dogs to understand now that the rules will be enforced. Under these rules the park policeman has authority to shoot every dog caught chasing the squirrels. Here is rule 13, which is going to be a fatal 13 for some of the curs: "No dog shall run at large in Fairmont Park and every dog found in this park shall be deemed to be running at large unless the owner carries him or leads him by a strap or rope not exceeding six feet in length, or unless said owner keeps such dog in his wagon or other vehicle, or attaches him thereto by strap or rope. It is further made the duty of the park police in Bayliss Park to kill any dog he may find destroying the squirrels in that park."

"It will also be necessary to enforce the rule against walking on the grass in Bayliss Park for a time at least. Many people seem to take especial delight in tramping across the law in Bayliss Park."

[Nonpareil, Council Bluffs, Iowa, Published April 28, 1904, submitted by Ann]

Five Additions To The Family

"Queen Bess," Black Squirrel at Bayliss Park,
A Proud Mother

The black squirrel "Queen Bess," which is the special pet of the board of park commissioners, is the proud mother of five little ones. They were all out yesterday playing on the big maple tree in the eastern part of Bayliss Park containing their nest. Three of the little fellows are black and two of them are red. The big red squirrel, "Captain Kidd," is the father of the little pets. He allows no other squirrel except his black spouse to live at peace in Bayliss Park. The little rodents are about half grown, being two months old. The three blacks will probably be christened Tom, Dick and Harry, and the reds Pat and Mike.

"Queen Bess" is the descendant of some black squirrels purchased some fifteen or sixteen years ago by Park Commissioner Graham. He paid $4 per pair for two pair. A white or albino squirrel was offered to Mr. Graham at the same time for $5, but he did not buy him. There are a good many black squirrels scattered about in the town now and about as many red ones. When the storm struck Fairmount Park the other night a nest of little squirrels was blown to the ground. The mother dragged off all of them except one, and the men found it the next morning hurt on the ground, and he is being raised by hand. The squirrels at Fairmount are all reds.

Rasmus Jensen and his assistant, J.W. Babbington, who have charge of Bayliss Park, are inordinately proud of "Queen Bess" and her progeny.

[Nonpareil, Council Bluffs, Iowa, Published April 16, 1905, submitted by Ann]

Graham Defends The Sqirrels
Replies to Nebraska Woman's Criticism

President A.C. Graham of the board of park commissioners recently received a letter from Mrs. A.P. Hoover of Blair, Nebraska with a clipping from the paper of that place, both dealing with the alledged pest of squirrels in that town. Mrs. Hoover tells of the ravages of the squirrels among the fruit and nut trees and declares that the little animals deal death among birds and eat their eggs.

The newspaper article is on the same subject and states that the squirrels have become such a nuisance that it is the intention to ask the Nebraska legislature to repeal the law prohibiting the killing of squirrels.

In answer to the letter and clipping, Mr. Graham has mailed the following letter:

"Mrs. A.P. Hoover, Blair, Nebraska -- Dear Madame: We have your letter of recent date calling attention to the alleged destructive habits of the tame squirrels in your vicinity and note what you say in relation to their attacks on the birds.

"We have no doubt you are seriously in earnest in your desire to protect the birds, and, as that is a part of our religion, we would not wish to say one little word that would in the least weaken your friendship and care for them. But, from knowledge gained by a study of animal life through the better part of a century, I am convinced that you take too seriously the tales you have heard about destruction of birds and their nests by the mischievious little fellows that also make their homes in the trees.

"Throughout daily observation of squirrel and bird life in thirty years, I have only known of one instance where a squirrel had apparently killed a bird, and that occurred in our Bayliss Park here when a young squirrel was seen coming down a tree with a grown bird in its mouth.

"The squirrel has no taint or trait of the carnivora in its nature. It will not though starved in captivity, eat any kind of animal food, and I don't think there was ever a squirrel so depraved that it has robbed a bird's nest to eat the eggs. That they will destroy a nest and drive away the birds that build too near their own homes I know to be a fact, but this is the parental instinct to protect their young.

"Little squirrels are like little boys, full of mischief, and in the first glad frolics of youth in the spring they will occasionally, out of pure curiosity and mischief, tear away a bird's nest. But little boys do that, too, and I venture to say the boys around Blair have destroyed more birds' nest and killed more birds than have all the squirrels that have seen Nebraska. But no one advocates killing the boys. The women, too, have used millions of birds to ornament their hats, but the cruelest man-brute does not want all of the milliners killed.

"If you will come here we will show you thousands of birds and hundreds of squirrels living in the same trees in our parks and upon the best of terms. But we feed our park squirrels about thirty five bushels of nuts each year.

"We note what you say about the squirrels destroying fruit and nuts. In this again, we think you are mistaken as to the results. I have seen young squirrels, out of pure mischief, cutting off peaches. But they obey the same instinct that impels them to trim the treetops. The fruit left is always the better for the pruning, and our park trees would not be nearly so beautiful if the squirrels did not clip off thousands of tips of the highest branches. As tree trimmers they pay for the nuts we buy for them. A squirrel never cuts ungrown nuts unless the tree is overloaded. He is a wise little fellow, has wisdom gained by watching the boys with their sacks carrying away the nuts when ready to fall and he clips them off to get ahead of the boys; but the nuts are always ripe. Then the squirrels are tree planters. Nebraska would have been a wooded country now if the squirrels had been given a chance.

No, nature is a wise old mother, and she does not teach her children to wantonly destroy each other. She must not be held responsible for the sad fact that it is mankind self-taught and self-depraved, that is the such destroyer of the birds with the use of shotguns and lack of parental teaching that inculcates humanity as the foundation of all morality, are the real causes of the destruction of the birds.

"We note with interest the names of bankers and others given as reference. We assure you they are not needed, but we cannot see where the banker has especial qualifications as a judge in this case. If your bankers were as busy figuring interest as ours they have never had time to learn the difference between a Groundhog and a Bluejay.

"Thanking you for your communication and assuring you of our conviction that you have accused the squirrels wrongfully, and again inviting you to visit our parks when in the city, where you will find many more varieties of both birds and squirrels than Nebraska has ever known and many fold more in numbers, we are sincerely yours,

Board of Park Commissioners by A.C. Graham, President

[Nonpareil, Council Bluffs, Iowa, Published February 9, 1908, submitted by Ann]