The Purple Plaque

Earl Plato
Calls about chipmunks. One caller said, “Earl, we have a black chipmunk. It’s a chipmunk even though neighbours say it looks like a rat.” Anomalies in nature. Sure. Albino chipmunks why not black chipmunks? Black squirrels abound why not some black chipmunks?
Dianne from Niagara Falls e-mailed me with this comment, “My sister, who lives in Toronto in a house with a ravine lot at the back loves the chipmunks. She lures them up close to her house by offering them peanuts. One day while feeding them a cat lurking in the bushes sprang out, pounced on one of the chipmunks and dragged it into the ravine and there was nothing anyone could do.” Dianne’s viewpoint: “Whether well-intentioned in giving the chipmunls treats or a way of entertaining oneself, feeding wild animals can mean their demise in some form or other.” What do you think?
***
No, I didn’t walk the wetland area west of Gorham Road in Ridgeway this year. For a number of years I paced off and recorded the ever increasing expansion of Purple loosestrife. Again side ditches and complete fields in Greater Fort Erie are filled even more with these alien plants. Yes, many people have told me they admire their lavender-purplish blooms. Herbicides, manual extraction, flooding and recently beetles introduced from Europe have been or are being used to halt the invasion. Still the “purple plague” marches on. Try to pull a plant out and realize that its root structure is unbelievably strong. The plant multiplies quickly and worse of all it crowds out other local beneficial plants such as cattails. So? There is no nourishment from Purple loosestrife for indigenous animals to feed on once Purple loosestrife has been established. The plant has interrupted the food chain of several mammals. That’s a fact.