We’re getting snow showers this week. It’s a little late for the first snow; we often have some on the ground by now. We did get about an inch of white stuff Saturday night, but the ground is still warm enough that it won't last. I’m wondering if the rest of our winter will work to catch up with a late start.
Speaking of a land with no winter, I guess that little state down south had to match our Fat Bear Week. It seems that now Texas has Fat Squirrel Week.
While Katmai National Park’s “Fat Bear Week” ended on Sept. 30, Alaska’s southern sibling is celebrating its own chubby animals.
“We could only have 16 squirrels compete and be nominated to make the bracket work, so we had to be selective in what squirrels and parks got to participate,” said Carolanne Brannon, park superintendent for Texas’ Meridian State Park.
“I think no matter what state you come from, a park ranger is a park ranger, and we love a fluffy animal when it comes to winter-time.”
Fat squirrels it is, then. They say everything’s bigger in Texas.
For the competition’s inaugural year, Brannon told Alaska’s News Source that the 16 selected squirrels were picked from a variety of Texas state parks.
“Unsimilarly, obviously, we don’t have all the same squirrels in the same park, so we had each park kind of post and prompt their public to nominate a squirrel they’ve seen in the last year,” she said.
“Hopefully next year, we’ll have squirrels and more of a heads-up for people and our staff to be on the lookout for fat squirrels in the park.”
Unlike Fat Bear Week, squirrels will be voted for based on cuteness and “heftiness,” rather than the pounds packed on before winter.
We have some local squirrels, of course. But the Texas squirrels are the big southern Fox Squirrel (Sciurus niger), while ours are the American Red Squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus), which are much smaller. I learned to hunt by matching my wits against big Iowa fox squirrels and the smaller gray squirrels, but our reds up here are too small to bother with; besides, we kind of like having them around.
Now I’m waiting to see if my good friend and PJMedia colleague Stephen Green will find a Fat Gator Week for his Florida Man Friday posts.
Alaska Man score: There are no moose in Texas. Sorry, Texas.
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Alaska may not have fat squirrels, but we do have one turtle. Just one, yes, and in the recent flooding in western Alaska, he had a harrowing time – but he’s safe now.
The turtle belonged to Kwigillingok’s school, but community members were forced to leave the class pet behind during evacuations.
According to Jana Drake, Alaska Division of Homeland Security’s Emergency Management branch State Emergency Operations Specialist, rescue workers began searching for the turtle upon request from community members.
“We were afraid the turtle had escaped with one of the civilians that lived in Kwig and got loose in the Chinook [winds,]” she said.
The news was good in the end:
“After many minutes of searching a ginormous Chinook for a turtle, he was actually the whole entire time safe in his tank in the school of Kwig.”
The turtle, who DHS-EM staff nicknamed “Joc,” in honor of the Joint Operations Center, was brought to Bethel, where he initially found his way into the home of Jackie Klejka, an assistant veterinarian specialist.
“Our children grew up with a turtle here, and I think the person that suggested us (sic) knew that we had the setup for a turtle,” she said.
Despite the few days spent alone in Kwigillingok, Klejka said Joc is in good health.
“He’s pretty active, but he does have some missing parts of his shell,” she said. “We have a special light here for him that I can put him under. That’ll help with that. I’m hoping those parts that came off will regenerate on him, but he should be able to live regardless.”
Good for Joc. Turtles, other than the big, prehistoric-looking snapping variety, are pretty inoffensive animals. They’re quiet, they don’t bother other folks, most of them are scavengers, working to keep their local waterways clean. We don’t have any native turtles in Alaska; no reptiles of any kind, in fact. But pets deserve to be rescued from floods, too, and Joc never would have survived in the Alaska wilds with winter so swiftly coming on.
Alaska Man score: 5 moose nuggets. Great save.
Now then, speaking of critters, let’s talk about ravens.
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