Squirrels are scarier than ever.
There once was a time—long before it became famous as a haven for mobsters and a mecca for ziti—when New Jersey was known mainly for its toxic-waste dumps.
Sadly, that time may be returning. The Trentonian reports that New Jersey officials are warning residents in the Ringwood area not to consume too many squirrels after a lead-contaminated bushy-tailed critter was found.
A letter sent Tuesday to Ringwood residents advised them that children should not eat squirrel more than once a month, pregnant women should limit their intake to twice a month, and adults should not eat squirrel more than twice a week.
The area is home to the Ramapough Mountain Indian Tribe, who often hunt, fish, and forage for their food, as well as a toxic-waste dump that has been on the list of Superfund sites for years.
Even small amounts of ingested lead can create a host of problems, including nervous-system damage and problems with brain development in children.
Maybe the government should clean up that site so that mesquite squirrel can come back to the northern New Jersey table.
Great, now that Superfund squirrel is off the menu, how else are we to get our quotient of game meat?! But in all seriousness, this warning should have come years (decades) ago, as soon as the full, greusome effect of toxic dumping became too obvious to explain away. Children of the Superfund era have already been birth-marked with developmental issues, and developed cancer later in life. Why the sudden stake in peoples’ welfare now, and why only the squirrels? Seems to me that the humans and squirrels are eating the same nuts and drinking the same contaminated groundwater…