Monday, June 4, 2012

Of raccoons, squirrels and churches

I recently saw a TV documentary about raccoons. It mentioned a big problem in Japan with the imported animals nesting in ancient wooden temples. The raccoons were sold as pets after a children's cartoon show about a baby raccoon became popular. The animals were turned loose as adults, and being as resourceful as they are, they multiplied and took up residence in the attics of the temples. Their scratches and urine are causing great damage to irreplaceable buildings.


(Now, here is a joke that was emailed to me recently about squirrels in churches.)

A small town had four churches--Presbyterian, Methodist, Catholic and Baptist.

All four had a serious problem with squirrels in the church. Each church in its own fashion had a meeting to deal with the problem.

The Presbyterians decided that it was predestined that squirrels be in the church and that they would just have to live with them.

The Methodists decided they should deal with the squirrels lovingly in the style of Charles Wesley. They humanely trapped them and released them in a park at the edge of town. Within 3 days, they were all back in the church.

The Catholics also humanely trapped them and attempted to teach them the "rhythm" method to prevent them from breeding which of course did not work.

The Baptists had the best solution. They voted the squirrels in as members. Now they only see them at Christmas and Easter.

16 comments:

Linda said...

LOL! This is hilarious...and great! I hadn't heard this before. Thank you so much for sharing and for the smiles. :)

Joanne Noragon said...

Lovely when it all comes together, isn't it. Trust the Baptists to have the solution. My Uncle would have told this one. My Aunt would have, too, come to think about it. And she was a nun.

Elaine said...

I love it! That laughter (which you probably heard in Minnesota) was a brilliant start to my day - thank you.

The Owl Wood said...

I suspect that the Japanese will very swiftly come up with a solution, and that the solution will be small, electronic, and all over U-Tube before long. Having seen their television shows with contestants put into the most appalling situations I can't imagine that scruples or dignity will get in the way of dealing with a few (hundred thousand) racoonies!

Captain Shagrat said...

Hehe sounds about right ;-)

Moving with Mitchell said...

Great story of the religious history of squirrels!

Raccoons are unbelievably clever. They used to take down, completely empty, and disassemble our "Big Top" bird feeder every night. For a few weeks, we searched our woods every morning to find all the parts, which we would then reassemble. We finally caught on and took it down to store in the garage every night. Hah! (Obviously not as bright as the raccoons.)

Jane and Chris said...

Once again we humans create a problem and blame it on the animal.
Your joke gave me a giggle!
Jane x

Ms Sparrow said...

Linda: It was new to me too.

Joanne: It's great when we have the ability to laugh at ourselves!

Elaine: Since you're out of bed six hours before I am, I slept right through it! Sorry about that.

Owl: I've caught several of those TV shows and they are devilishly ingenious in humiliating contestants. Lord knows what they do to the raccoons!

Captain: Glad you enjoyed it!

Mitch: You are so right. The documentary showed that raccoons who live in cities are getting smarter all the time.

Jane & Chris: True--the only reason raccoons are around is because we moved into their territory, not the other way around.

John Going Gently said...

they look like a troupe of teenage boys up to no good!

Ms Sparrow said...

John: Boy, you got that right!

Linda Starr said...

Here squirles will eat through car wiring at night and are considered pests. Sadly the natural predator sof coyote, hawk, fox, and bobcat have been all but eliminated or driven elsewhere and hence the squirrels are rampant in their destruction.

Linda Myers said...

We do the humane trap thing on our front porch. The park is two miles away. So far, no returns.

Knatolee said...

I hadn't heard about raccoons invading Japan! :) We usually have a raccoon and her babies in our upper barn every year. They move on when the babies are big enough and haven't caused any big problems. Our ducks and chickens are in raccoon-proof coops!

Ms Sparrow said...

Linda Starr: A few years ago, I took the car in for servicing and when the mechanic raised the hood, there were pine cones packed everywhere!

Linda Myers: I'm glad that's working out for you. You must not have "homing squirrels"!

Knatolee: I see raccoons around our place at night. I always have several pans of water out for animals and they need to be refilled in the morning.

Kittie Howard said...

Laughed out loud! I'd heard this before but had forgotten the punch line so laughed like I'd never heard the joke. Amazing how humans solve problems, eh?

Buttercup said...

I'm with Kittie. Big chuckles here in NYC. Thanks!