watch out squirrels!!
i'm fairly certain my dad is slowly becoming a crazy old man.
he has a couple of bird feeders in our backyard, and he slips into crazy-old-man mode everytime he sees a squirrel hanging from one of the feeders. usually he'll mutter something resembling "god damn squirrels," and he even has a pellet gun in the back hall closet just waiting for some unsuspecting cute little four-legged rodent to come along with the malicious intention of eating the feed that is, apparently, exclusively for the birds. if we dressed him up in overalls and put him on the back porch in a rocking chair, i'm sure he'd just spontaneously start rambling about how his "knee's actin' up again... must be a storm brewin'!"
however, a couple weeks ago he found the ultimate foil for those evil squirrels... the yankee flipper... or, as he and i have dubbed it, the "squirrel twirler." that's right folks, this little device is a bird feeder with a weight-sensitive perch that starts to spin around under the weight of anything heavier than a medium-sized bird.
squirrel tries to use perch, perch spins around, squirrel goes flying. hilarity ensues.
i'm having trouble deciding whether this is entirely humane or not, but i presume it wouldn't be on the market if it was found to be overly cruel. the only way i could see a squirrel getting hurt would be if it was either placed too high, and the squirrel was thrown off quite a distance to the ground (my dad put it just about 5' off the ground... i've seen squirrels fall farther than that without injury), or if it was hung too close to a wall, and a squirrel with a good grip was swung around into the wall... possibly repeatedly. a humorous visual, but probably not much fun for the squirrel.
however, the humaneness factor didn't enter into it when we were watching the promotional video (that's right, video) that was playing in the store where my dad purchased his yankee flipper; 4-5 straight minutes of squirrels jumping onto this mammalian merry-go-round, being twirled around, and flung off, occasionally into a nearby bush... complete with chipmunk-style voiceovers for the thwarted squirrels. this, my friends, was comic gold... my father, visiting uncle and cousin, and i were all in hysterics for the full length of this video.
if you're interested, the video is indeed available at the yankee flipper website above, although the quality isn't exactly topnotch.
and the cherry on top? not only is it advertised as a squirrel-proof feeder... but also, and i quote: "Fun! Exciting! Entertaining!" hey, at least they're being honest with themselves regarding the inherent humour in a device designed to turn small rodents into projectiles.
for the record, we have yet to witness any squirrel-twirling in our own back yard. i wonder if they have a money-back entertainment guarantee?
he has a couple of bird feeders in our backyard, and he slips into crazy-old-man mode everytime he sees a squirrel hanging from one of the feeders. usually he'll mutter something resembling "god damn squirrels," and he even has a pellet gun in the back hall closet just waiting for some unsuspecting cute little four-legged rodent to come along with the malicious intention of eating the feed that is, apparently, exclusively for the birds. if we dressed him up in overalls and put him on the back porch in a rocking chair, i'm sure he'd just spontaneously start rambling about how his "knee's actin' up again... must be a storm brewin'!"
however, a couple weeks ago he found the ultimate foil for those evil squirrels... the yankee flipper... or, as he and i have dubbed it, the "squirrel twirler." that's right folks, this little device is a bird feeder with a weight-sensitive perch that starts to spin around under the weight of anything heavier than a medium-sized bird.
squirrel tries to use perch, perch spins around, squirrel goes flying. hilarity ensues.
i'm having trouble deciding whether this is entirely humane or not, but i presume it wouldn't be on the market if it was found to be overly cruel. the only way i could see a squirrel getting hurt would be if it was either placed too high, and the squirrel was thrown off quite a distance to the ground (my dad put it just about 5' off the ground... i've seen squirrels fall farther than that without injury), or if it was hung too close to a wall, and a squirrel with a good grip was swung around into the wall... possibly repeatedly. a humorous visual, but probably not much fun for the squirrel.
however, the humaneness factor didn't enter into it when we were watching the promotional video (that's right, video) that was playing in the store where my dad purchased his yankee flipper; 4-5 straight minutes of squirrels jumping onto this mammalian merry-go-round, being twirled around, and flung off, occasionally into a nearby bush... complete with chipmunk-style voiceovers for the thwarted squirrels. this, my friends, was comic gold... my father, visiting uncle and cousin, and i were all in hysterics for the full length of this video.
if you're interested, the video is indeed available at the yankee flipper website above, although the quality isn't exactly topnotch.
and the cherry on top? not only is it advertised as a squirrel-proof feeder... but also, and i quote: "Fun! Exciting! Entertaining!" hey, at least they're being honest with themselves regarding the inherent humour in a device designed to turn small rodents into projectiles.
for the record, we have yet to witness any squirrel-twirling in our own back yard. i wonder if they have a money-back entertainment guarantee?