EagleTribune.com, North Andover, MA

Merrimack Valley

Out on a limb: White squirrel spotted in Methuen

White squirrels vulnerable to predators, curious trappers

By J.J. Huggins
jhuggins@eagletribune.com
Published: October 9, 2008

METHUEN — With its scraggly white hair and black eyes, the little white animal looked like a cat at first.

But then Norman Gosselin, 74, of 30 Anderson Drive witnessed an unusual sight.

"When I saw it up on its hind legs eating some nuts or something, I knew it was a squirrel," Gosselin said.

Squirrels are a dime a dozen in these parts, except for white ones. The critter that Gosselin found is most likely a color variant — a mutated version — of one of the native types in the area, according to the White Squirrel Research Institute's Web site.

The research institute has tracked the tree-hugging rodent around the eastern United States, in nearby places like Andover, Cambridge and Boston, and farther away, such as Long Island and Panacea, Fla.

Gosselin used a humane live-animal trap to catch four gray squirrels and two skunks last month. He was trying to catch the squirrels because they damage his home. He freed the animals in the woods, he said.

He saw the white squirrel in his backyard Tuesday and set the trap once again, using a cracker and peanut butter for bait.

"Because I had never seen one before, I guess I got kind of excited about seeing a white squirrel," he said.

He caught the squirrel Wednesday and set it free that night. As of yesterday, he hadn't seen it again.

"Probably doesn't want anything to do with this area," Gosselin said.

To say white squirrels create a buzz in some places would be an understatement. The city of Olney, Ill., has billed itself as the "home of the white squirrels" since 1902, and they're about to start their yearly white squirrel count — an event that takes place during three Saturdays every fall.

Why do people go nuts about white squirrels?

"I guess it's because they're different," said Cindy Harlan, an administrative assistant in the city manager's office in the southeastern Illinois city of about 8,300 people.

Last year, they tallied 152 of the rodents during the first weekend of the count, according to a local newspaper report.

The city's Web site advises people to contact City Clerk Belinda Henton "when they discover white squirrels that have been abandoned or hurt."

There's a rock band named White Squirrel in St. Paul, Minn. They say Budweiser is their influence, according to their myspace.com Web page. People in Brevard, N.C., gathered for the fifth annual Brevard White Squirrel Festival May 24 and 25.

But there's a downside to sporting such a light exterior because it means the animals are more visible to hungry predators flying overhead, said Jaime Tanner, a biology professor at University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Or the exotic look could coax a resident into trapping the squirrel, as such was the case in Methuen.

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