Tamiasciurus douglasii
On 2/22/2026 a douglas squirrel was struck by a driver and killed right next to the mailboxes across my house on my street.
I just watched this same squirrel eat hazelnuts in my backyard.
She still had a hazelnut in her mouth when she died, the same hazelnut I gave her.
All she wanted is to bring the hazelnut across the street and hide it somewhere in the soil.
Is this really too much to ask?
We buried the squirrel in the flowerpot in our yard. I was crying.
Douglas squirrels are small squirrels that are native and endemic to the pacific northwest coastal areas. In fact, they are not found anywhere else in the world! They need protection! All squirrels and all animals do.
Tragically this is not the first time a squirrel was killed while crossing our street, despite "squirrel crossing" signs the drivers are just going too fast.
Driving, of cause, kills humans too. But the toll on wildlife is truly staggering. If we would put the memorial signs next to the road each time when an animal is killed, like we sometimes do for human deaths, we would run out of signs.
Our dependency on cars created the world for many animals where their evolution itself became maladaptive on the most fundamental level. Many prey animals, such as bunnies and opossums either freeze or move randomly, when faced with danger. This works well for the prey escaping the predator situation. But this same instinct works against avoiding a moving vehicle.
We created this world and it is our moral duty to try and help fix this.
an idea is born >>>
douglas b. squirrel memorial bridge
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