Hawk Kills Whitey

The students of Ohio State are in mourning after a hawk killed Whitey, an albino squirrel that was widely known around the campus. A facebook page has been created to honor Whitey's memory. It currently has over 2100 members. The Lantern, Ohio State's student newspaper, reports:
Whitey's life was cut short at around 2 p.m. Friday when a hawk spotted his white fur coat from above and flew in for the kill. Several students walking through the South Oval witnessed the aftermath of the attack, the proud hawk looming over its prey...
After about five minutes, the hawk flew away with its talons fastened to the squirrel's lifeless body. The hawk made it as far as the other side of the South Oval when Whitey's weight forced the predator to land. In some nearby shrubbery the hawk sampled his prey before flying away.

This reminded me of the Killer Hawk of Chicago, which got Chicagoans upset back in 1927 because it was killing pigeons outside the Art Institute. A lot of people had doubts about whether the Killer Hawk of Chicago was actually real, or whether it was the invention of a paper trying to drum up sales. But it sounds like Ohio State's Whitey-killing Hawk is real.

Animals Death

Posted on Sun Nov 18, 2007


Comments

Lets see, squirrel eats plant products that cannot defend themselves in any way and squirrel is loved. Hawk eats an animal that can dodge, evade or otherwise defend itself and hawk is hated. That seems to be the usual situation. I would think that every person on campus who is strongly for the environment would cheer the hawk on for helping the balance of nature. Bet none of them do.
Posted by Christopher Cole  on  Mon Nov 19, 2007  at  06:18 PM
I don't understand why people aren't allowed to feel sad for a squirrel that was apparently well liked on campus. Why do we have to turn off our emotions and not be sad over the loss of a life, just because that life was lost in feeding another animal? Whether people are sad or not doesn't change the fact that the hawk got it's food or the fact that the squirrel died. So why do others get so defensive when someone dares to say "poor squirrel"?

I don't care if I get jumped on by people saying "that's how it is, the hawk has to eat too." I understand that, and that's how life is, but it doesn't change the fact that I do feel bad for it. I'm tired of people telling me I'm wrong for feeling a certain way.
Posted by Sakano  on  Mon Nov 19, 2007  at  10:20 PM
Everyone, even the hawks, are out to get Whitey!
Posted by Cranky Media Guy  on  Tue Nov 20, 2007  at  01:26 AM
My grandfather has two acres on a small local lake. He has quite a bit of wildlife that find their way to his property. He has a huge squirrel population & a few well fed hawks. The hawks swoop down, and generally take the squirrel up to the branches of some of the trees in his yard. Well, when they are finished with their meal - the bodies get dropped onto the lawn. My grandfather just runs them over b/c he doesn't realize they are there.

Whenever I go out into the yard there are these gross tufts of fur everywhere.
Posted by Maegan  on  Wed Nov 21, 2007  at  08:35 AM
Whoa. My Grandfather also had gross tufts of fur, and he also wanted to "Get Whitey". What were the chances of that? Boggles the mind.
Posted by Hairy Houdini  on  Thu Nov 22, 2007  at  04:31 PM
value
Posted by fortuitouz  on  Fri Feb 04, 2011  at  07:29 PM
I am glad to find there was another white squirrel in the US.

Here in NY suburb many years ago I saw a (snow)white squirrel, this was a beautiful creature and along with it were a few others with not quite white fur also, one was mostly white and others had lots of white hairs. So the genetic component was important.

Unfortunately they all were killed and hawks now have overwhelmed the entire area, meaning we have nothing left, our birds have been devastated, rabbits long gone and one redtail of absolutely enormous size sits on the fire escape.

As a young person then I believed that lovely squirrel would exist forever, it had only a few brief months, and all the others are gone too, An omen for us all.
Posted by fortuitouz  on  Fri Feb 04, 2011  at  07:30 PM
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