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Letter — Alarmed by the dead squirrels

Tahoe Daily Tribune

As a resident of the South Tahoe area for some 20 years now, I have noticed that from the general keepers of this town, there is quite a priority list that is less than tasteful. A recent event has proven true, as I will account for you in the following. My husband of five years was doing a daily chore of taking out the garbage, and found a squirrel lying stiff in a parking area of our apartments. Knowing that our 5-year-old and 18-month-old were sure to play outside nearby soon after, he immediately notified me to call the apartment manager. In doing this, she informed me that a maintenance attendant had found a few other “stiff squirrels” around the complex. I hung up the phone and called the wildlife foundation and received a less than satisfactory response. My reaction had thrown me back to passed seasons when the plague had infected thousands of woodland creatures who threatened all who might come in contact with them. The woman who I spoke with told me that the plague was not active until the summer season, and that the squirrels were surely not harmful. So my question is, When does the “plague season” begin? How could she have known that, when last summer, the Tahoe Valley Campground was infested with plague not more than a mile from where we found the dead squirrels, that they were not harmful? Is that not her job to investigate the situation? There is definitely a priority issue in this town when an obviously deadly disease could threaten the lives of our native’s children. A cat is trapped in a tree, we are forced to wait for it to come down. You want to paint your house teal, you have to clear it through the TRPA. A possible beginning to this year’s plague, sorry, you have to wait until it is officially summer. In a small town that has grown into a madhouse of casinos and keepers who do not care, I live here with the memory of what was once a town that cared.

Hannah Luecke

South Lake Tahoe


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