Cute or Not Cute: Have You Seen the Squirrels Around Forbes Park? -

We ask one of our correspondents in Forbes Park to share her experiences with the squirrels who happen to live in one of Manila’s most exclusive subdivisions. 

Looking out of my living room while sipping tea from my Royal Doulton tea cup, my peaceful day was disrupted by a dismayed cry from my son, recently home from his riding lesson at the country club. “Mom!” he whined piteously, “the internet stopped working!” For many with children who grew up in the digital age, this is a familiar refrain. But for those who live in the country’s most exclusive enclave, boardering the busy thoroughfare that links Metro Manila together and whose neighbors are CEOs and ambassadors, this affliction is heightened by its admittedly ridiculous source: squirrels chewing the internet lines.

Yes, the denizens of Forbes Park, North and South, and its cohorts Dasmarinas and Urdaneta are populated with squirrels. No one quite knows why, but the story goes is that some well-meaning American fellow renting a home at one of the villages decided to bring home a couple of squirrels as a pet. As wild animals are wont to do, a few of these enterprising rodents made a mad dash to escape and succeeded, and then proceeded to mate with other rodents of the less desirable variety: rats. Which is why when you take a close look at these pests, you don’t see the cute squirrels of Disney movies variety, you see ones with decidely-rat faced features.

Throughout the years, no solution has been taken to rid the grand, leafy trees of these usurpers. One decidedly uncivillized one was to take a gun and shoot them, which was unthought of and immediately shot down (pardon the pun). Another was to devise a more humane way of capturing them. Either way, without well-thought plan to action, our wires will be continuously chewn by these unavoidable critters.

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