Ethical Dilemma

[longlegsrule]

haven't squirrels stored a bunch of food by this time of year in order to make it through winter?? Why can't you wait till spring to do something?

[rhino]

mmmmm...Squirrel Gravy

[Artsay]

Man oh man, Jared...that's a terrible dilemma to be in. I guess I'd say to bolt the route and leave the squirrels there. I've been on a ton of routes with bat nests, bird nests, snake holes, and wasps nests. You could bolt a route with no nests on it today and next year a nest will appear. If that was the case, would you destroy the nest? If it was a wasp's nest...probably...but most likely you'd leave it alone. Maybe name the route something symbolic of its squirliness and a note in the online guide.

[Spragwa]

Man J Rock, it is a dilemma. I'm all for leaving the squirrels though. I bet that the bat who lived in Fuzzy Undercling wishes he'd been left alone.

[512OW]

One question...

Are there other routes you can work on for awhile? Or is that the final route at Muir Valley? Do we REALLY need another line of bolts immediately drilled?

Ok....3 questions....

[squeezindlemmon]

yes.
no.
yes and no.

next please.

[rabbit]

I've come across a lot of animals on routes. Dealing with them can be discerning but it's very important when figuring out how best to handle the situation.

[J-Rock]

Thanks for all of the input. The nest will be left alone. The route will probably be bolted someday, but not anytime soon. There are more available nesting sites for these squirrels than there are classic 5.9 sport routes. These walls definitely contain copious quantities of pockets that could be inhabited. I strongly agree with Artsay's post:

I guess I'd say to bolt the route and leave the squirrels there. I've been on a ton of routes with bat nests, bird nests, snake holes, and wasps nests. You could bolt a route with no nests on it today and next year a nest will appear. If that was the case, would you destroy the nest? If it was a wasp's nest...probably...but most likely you'd leave it alone. Maybe name the route something symbolic of its squirliness and a note in the online guide.

I studied the nest of these pilfering pillaging pilots and noted that there was not any type of food storage. It appeared to be an ordinary birds nest and the pocket where it was located was no different than any other pocket at the Red. Certainly there are plentiful pockets in the Red. Upon further inspection of the opening of the neighboring tree into which they flew there was evidence of many chewed up nuts.

The squirrels are free to choose for themselves if they wish to remain. Their nest will be left unharmed. Perhaps we can all live in symbiosis and even give them offerings, or maybe, they can create one hell of scare for the intrepid leader who inadvertantly decides to take a peek into there cozy little home... Time will tell...

[marathonmedic]

I found this article in the Indiana University student newspaper today. It seemed to fit the subject. How ironic that this article took up more space than all of the national and world news combined, but then again, that section is usually a half page and the basketball section is 4 pages.

http://www.idsnews.com/subsite/story.php?id=25560

[J-Rock]

Oh yeah, by the way, we bolted 3 routes with resident snakes. They were not removed either. A couple of these routes have become quite popular!