Cocaine-addicted Squirrels Terrorize London

[dutch-marshal]

In the end, their neurons function on the same basis as ours and squirrels are getting hooked on crack cocaine in London, hidden by addicts and dealers in gardens. The rodents are digging up the stashes and eat the powerful drug, which comes in small chunks, neglecting their traditional nut diet.

Several squirrels behaving bizarrely have been observed in Brixton, South London, following a police blitz against cocaine dealers and users, who seem to have chosen to bury their stashes in people's gardens in the streets around Brixton.

"I was chatting with my neighbor who told me that crack users and dealers sometimes use my front garden to hide bits of their stash. An hour earlier I'd seen a squirrel wandering round the garden, digging in the flowerbeds. It looked like it knew what it was looking for. It was ill-looking and its eyes looked bloodshot but it kept on desperately digging. It was almost as if it was trying to find hidden crack rocks." one resident told Life Style Extra.

Other residents too have noticed squirrels turned unusually aggressive.

"We have not had any dealers reporting the theft of their stash by squirrels but the animal is attracted by smell and if it detects something it likes it will dig it up. These animals are big foragers. If a squirrel did open a bag of crack and start consuming it there is no doubt it would die pretty quickly. I suspect that nobody has reported it because they are a wild animal and when they are found dead no-one cares." said RSPCA.

America too would face the issue of the crack squirrels, common in parks where addicts roam in New York and Washington DC, according to Internet legends. The drugged animals are known to be aggressive with the park visitors in their search for a dose.






source:hxxp://news.softpedia.com/news/Cocaine-Addicted-Squirrels-Terorize-London-039-s-65024.shtml

[fnord]

has anyone tested these squirrels blood for cocaine?or are they just assuming?

[Alicia]

lol coked up squirrels. its no longer save the children,but save the squirrels! Screw the gray squirrels they ruined it for the red ones.

[Lunar Loops]

Originally Posted by Alicia

Screw the gray squirrels they ruined it for the red ones.

That may not be far from the truth now. They'll be hanging from the trees in suggestive poses touting for business and looking for someone else to bury their nuts. How else are they going to support their crack habit?

[Mint boi]

Lol. Good article!

On the note of grey squirrels ruining red squirrels, and squirrels on drugs in general:
from the Irish times
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/fro...251431703.html

Plan to control grey squirrel threat with contraceptives
Seán Mac Connell, Agriculture Correspondent
Grey squirrels may be given contraceptives to prevent them breeding and wiping out the last remaining 40,000 red squirrels in the 32 counties.
The immuno-contraception idea has been proposed in a draft All-Ireland Species Action Plan launched yesterday by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS).
The new conservation plan said the red squirrel is one of the most threatened mammals in the country and is declining at a rate of approximately 1 per cent per annum because of competition from grey squirrels.
A recent all-Ireland survey of the greys found that they are now in 16 of the 26 counties in the Republic and in all six Northern counties, and are expanding at the rate of 1.9km per annum.
In the North the greys have replaced reds in all the counties and the only remaining ones there are to be found in northwest Antrim and western Fermanagh.
However, while the greys have found their way into all but 10 counties in the Republic, they have yet to cross the Shannon.
The plan, a collaborative effort between the NPWS and the Environment and Heritage Service in Northern Ireland, has suggested a wide range of options including supporting research into using contraceptives to prevent the spread of greys. Other methods include shooting and trapping and poisoning them by using warfarin, which is banned in the North.
Future actions identified in the plan included translocation projects, where red squirrels are moved to areas in which they face less competition from greys. Other measures identified included promoting certain types of forestry which suit red squirrels better than greys, and the construction of rope bridges in red squirrel areas.
The plan proposed the establishment of local squirrel groups to survey and monitor red squirrel and setting up a red squirrel action plan steering group to direct research funding between the bodies in Ireland.
Minister for the Environment John Gormley highlighted the importance of all-Ireland co-operation on species-conservation matters. "The red squirrel is declining North and South for pretty much the same reasons and a co-ordinated approach to its conservation is necessary to ensure that this beautiful animal remains a viable part of our biodiversity.




Seems to have worked in some american states with possums. I thought it was funny.

[Felonious Skunk]

Well I used to be a proponent of drug policy reform, but this has certainly changed my mind...

[snapper]

SWIFnord's squirrel probably picked up the bad habit from SWIits owner and passed it along.
How's that critter doing anyways ?

[rocksmokinmachine]

LOL, I'm sure the picture in the original post is from talk to frank! ha. A funny story, if it's true...

I'm pretty sure a 0.2g rock of crack cocaine would kill a squirrel anyway.

[UndeadPaperclip]

The war on drugs is failing so badly now even animals are getting hooked on drugs