ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, March 1, 1997 TAG: 9703030030
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: A Cuppa Joe
SOURCE: JOE KENNEDY
Ordinarily, store owner Peggy Spiegel would be glad to receive telephone calls, because phone calls can mean business.
But last Saturday, a slew of calls brought her a sort of business which she gladly would have done without.
Spiegel operates For the Birds, a nature-oriented shop on the Roanoke City Market. I mentioned it last week in a column about coping with squirrels.
In it, I referred to a picture of a squirrel on a "wanted" poster that I said was in Spiegel's store window. I also quoted employee Jessica Ward, who said customers often complain that squirrels take over and even destroy bird feeders and eat all the seed.
From these two flimsy pieces of evidence, angry squirrel lovers apparently assumed that For the Birds is Against the Squirrels.
They called and gave Spiegel the business, to her surprise and dismay.
Poster supposed to be funny
The charge is bosh. Only a nature lover could run a store like Spiegel's, and she emphatically does not place birds above any other wild creatures.
Ward merely repeated what customers often say, not the For the Birds creed. As for the poster, well, For the Birds has one, but it's in the back of the shop. The one I spied is in the window of Agnew's Seeds, next door. It was my mistake, for which I apologized. But it still was no reason to cream anyone. The poster is meant to be funny.
"Wanted in five neighborhoods on 17 counts of larceny," it says. "Suspect at large with a 3-pound stash of bird seed in his cheeks. Estimated street value, $1.37."
Customers at For the Birds often ask for products that would give a squirrel a hotfoot or send it reeling from pepper-laced seeds, but they do not sell such items.
Instead, they recommend these measures, provided by Spiegel's daughter, Phyllis Spiegel Crooke, who operates the Blacksburg For the Birds.
First, use durable, squirrel-proof feeders for arboreal birds, which, like squirrels, live in trees. Position the feeder with a pole and baffle system at least 8 feet from spots from which squirrels might jump to it. If necessary, substitute safflower seeds for sunflower seeds.
Do not trap squirrels. That "only removes dominant males, thereby opening up the territory to many other squirrels," Crooke said.
`A better tool than anger'
You always take a chance when you write about animals, because many people are fiercely protective of them. But others are not. After the column appeared, I received only one message from a squirrel lover. Several others either asked for help in ridding their attics of squirrels or outlined techniques they'd used to keep them from their feeders.
A falconer sent an e-mail offering to arrange for predatory birds to pluck bothersome squirrels from Roanoke neighborhoods.
I told him it would cause a riot.
Kent Agnew wanted me to make sure and mention the squirrel posters he has next door at Agnew's Seeds. He said he had sold several dozen at $4.25 apiece, and was expecting a new shipment any day.
Spiegel agreed with my conclusion that it's inhumane for us to create situations that make any animal - or person - an enemy. Apparently, some people didn't read that far.
Crooke called for reason.
"I commend people who feel so strongly about animals that they call strangers to defend those creatures, which are voiceless in this debate," she wrote, "but hopefully education is a better tool than anger."
I agree. Jumping on folks is for the birds.
What's your story? Call me at 981-3256, send e-mail to joek@roanoke.com or write to P.O. Box 2491, Roanoke 24010.
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