Furloughed Groundskeepers Return to White House Overrun With Woodland Creatures (thanks GOP!)

[big_dog]

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2465257/Fu


Now that the U.S. government is back in business, it means the feast is over for White House squirrels who have overrun the first lady's garden.
When the government shutdown more than two weeks ago, most White House gardeners were furloughed and those that were allowed to stay on were only allowed to water the plants. Triming, fetrilizing, transplanting, mowing and harvesting were all off limits.
Without any human intervention, the White House squirrels went to town on the Obama's prized organic garden, muching on tomatoes and the rest of the produce just coming into harvest.


'The bushy-tailed residents are feasting on the ripe Sungolds on the vines, as well as on other tomatoes and peppers littering the ground,' Eddie Gehman Kohan wrote last week on her blog Obama Foodorama.
Kohan explains that squirrels have always been a problem in the garden, but once the gardeners were furloughed, they became 'kids in a candy store, gorging themselves'.


The shutdown also temporarily put on hold plans to capture a fox who invaded the property more than two weeks before the shutdown.
According to Kohen, the fox has been glimpsed several times around dawn and dusk.
While the fox has eluded photographers, one source sent the Huffington Post a picture of the fox on the White House grounds about a month before the shutdown.


No word yet on what will become of the White House fox, or how the squirrels have reacted to the end of their 16-day feast.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2465257/Furloughed-groundskeepers-return-White-House-overrun-woodland-creatures.html





Read more: The London Daily Mail

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Can be we sure that Cruz and Bachmann weren't foraging the produce?

[MNBrewer]

1. If the produce was organic, you can bet not.

Organic food is against God's plan, or something.

[TlalocW]

2. I have a friend who works in DC who says the squirrels are nuts

He was at a corner waiting to cross, and a bunch of squirrels started throwing things from a tree onto a car waiting to make a turn.

TlalocW

[big_dog]

3. WH pic

[Mnemosyne]

18. That isn't a coyote in the second photo, is it? nt

[csziggy]

20. It's a fox - probably a red fox n/t

[Mnemosyne]

21. Thanks csziggy, eyes aren't great. Did not realize there were foxes at the WH. nt

[Cal Carpenter]

38. He's right. A squirrel climbed up my fucking jeans on a park bench in DC once

I was eating crackers. It climbed up my leg. I was so stunned it got past my knee before I jumped up and it jumped off of me.

DC squirrels behave unlike any other squirrels I have ever seen.

[question everything]

4. They eat tomatoes??

Not in my backyard. Of course, "mine" are spoiled. Nothing less than peanuts. Apples, too. Sometimes bread.

[Retrograde]

34. If they're like the ones here, they take a bite, discard it and leave it to rot

then proceed to do the same to the next one. Or just uproot the entire plant so they have an easier place to bury their nuts.

You actually feed the flea-ridden, disease-carrying, fuzzy-tailed tree rats?

[BronxBoy]

35. That's what they do on out farm

And the corn gets slaughtered

[question everything]

36. Oh yes. They and everyone else

We really enjoy the red squirrels. But the greys are here. And the chipmunks.

We give them "rejects" - shelled nuts rejected by the snack industry. I think that they are a bit sweet. A bit salty.

A cardinal this spring would actually come to our porch waiting for them. May have been a new busy dad.

And several years ago we had two young foxes that loved that stuff. They would ignore a squirrel 50 yards away and just munch on these rejects.

[Newsjock]

5. It's a woodland critter Christmas!

Thanks, Republicans!
http://www.southparkstudios.com/full-episodes/s08e14-woodland-critter-christmas

[JDPriestly]

6. This is the time of year when squirrels collect nuts. They wreak havoc in vegetable gardens

and orchards all year, but this is the worst time for them. I wonder how the gardeners normally keep the squirrels at bay. I'd like to know their secrets because I have no luck keeping them away from my plants and fruit trees.

[tech3149]

19. My solution to the squirrels

Three cats and a 22 with birdshot. Besides that, they seem to be contented with the walnuts and butternuts and don't bother much else.

[CottonBear]

27. Spread tea leaves & coffee grounds around plants.

I am a gardener at a botanical garden. That's what we do to keep rodents & armadillos from eating the plants. Local coffee shops will give you coffee grounds. Use Liquid Fence & Deer Off to keep deer away.

[pnwmom]

7. Too bad they couldn't have sent Bo out to run the squirrels off.

Or was he on shut-down mode, too?

[Paper Roses]

8. I hope they catch the fox and move it to another area.

Now and then I hear horror stories of police or game wardens shooting wild animals because they happen to be in the wrong place.

We took away their habitat, we need to find these poor creatures a new home. I hope the grounds keepers at the White House take care to help this poor creature. I'm sure he would be happier on the Eastern Shore somewhere.

[Miranda4peace]

14. ^^^^Exactly what I was thinking as I read the article.

I often hear about people trapping and killing skunks, groundhogs,Opossums etc. I'll never understand the thinking that allows people to be comfortable doing this. It disgusts me.

[Pab Sungenis]

23. When asked for comment, the fox said

"Ding ding ding ding...."

[mahannah]

9. What's a First Dog's job if not to chase squirrels?

[wial]

10. better not to cite the Daily Mail

They're not a credible source and play a lot of right wing games with readers' minds, a la Fox News. Probably a lot of other sources for this story that better deserve our validation.

[wandy]

11. Ok this is where I draw the line. If the family in the White House wants to........

have a garden, they can go out and 'shoo off' the critters like the rest of us do.
A few aluminum pie plates hanging on strings will do wonders.

Considering the type of BS President Obama has to put up with it would probably do him good to go out to the garden for a while and forget about the republican Boehner heads. Heck, forget about shooing off the critters and just watch them for a while.

Mr. President, I strongly recommend that you do not delegate this responsibility/enjoyment.

[OnlinePoker]

13. I agree

The First Lady may have inspired the garden and helped to get it started, but if she isn't doing the work to maintain it or gather the crops, is it really hers? Her goals to get people eating healthier meals is laudable, but she has to do more than just media events like the garden planting to inspire people. Getting out with a rake and a hoe after the planting would let the public see it's not just show for the cameras.

[7962]

29. Amen Wandy & Poker! Jeeze, NOBODY could run them off?

[yellowcanine]

32. Isn't it is a bit presumptuous for us to be telling Michelle how manage her schedule?

And I think she is doing fine without our help.

[RobinA]

30. As a Gardener

this was pretty much my thought as well. Having a garden means tending a garden. And yeah, working in the garden is therapeutic. AND ya gotta deal with some issues to make a good garden. Get to work, Obama family.

Also, leave the fox alone. Predators (the animal kind) are very much under atack, and foxes aren't going to hurt anything on the White House grounds unless they are raising chickens.

[TeamPooka]

12. those squirrells were working for free during the shutdown. I hope they get their back pay soon. nt

[big_dog]

17. Bo was trapped inside, now he's back on duty

[TeamPooka]

25. Good dog. My dog loves chasing squirrels too

[Moonwalk]

26. What about Sunny? Remember, there are two White House dogs now...

[big_dog]

37. how could we forget sunny! :)

?w=720

[Shrike47]

15. Foxes will eat squirrels. More foxes, I say!

Squirrels gnaw on our Halloween pumpkins every year if we leave them on the porch uncovered. My husband sometimes builds little pumpkin cages for me.

[Cleita]

16. What's wrong with critters?

I invite them into my yard and garden. I put up barriers where I don't want them, but otherwise they are welcome. If I were First Lady I would plant a woodland of native trees and plants on the grounds. Is get rid of the lawns. Grasslands belong on the prairies. All woodland critters would be welcome.

[Skeeter Barnes]

24. I love to sit on the porch and watch the squirrels under the pin oak in the yard.

And they love the acorns under that tree! They spend the whole day under it eating and burying nuts to eat later on. There is also a skunk that comes by often and he's gigantic. Biggest I've ever seen. Doesn't smell too good but he's welcome to visit if he finds something he likes to eat.

[PatrynXX]

22. although I'm the last to go after Squirrels. they are just a bit funny. Black squirrels are too

Nice. and mini ones. don't trap well in a rat trap. I saved a couple from those. Dad had them out for the Chipmunks. Who tended to run off with the peanut butter. One mini squirrel. Don't think it was a baby coulda been. Was caught in one. Mom said don't look. Oh but I did. hello it was still breathing. Okay fuck it. held the rat trap wood to the ground and oh so carefully lifted the mental bar. out pop came the head looked at for me like huh?? and ran to the tree shaking horribly. and eventually ran up the rest of the tree. I can only hope it survived and never came near our house again. Who is the animals around here..

[NickB79]

28. Sounds like it's time for Brunswick stew!

http://www.fieldandstream.com/forums/hunting/small-game/elmer-fudds-brunswick-stew

You know what they say: when life gives you squirrels, fry their asses up and eat them.

[yellowcanine]

31. Maybe the fox is there for the squirrels.

[agentS]

33. A pity they have to remove the Fox

Maybe they were afraid it would attack and eat Ed Henry.

[Nihil]

39. Woodchucks?