VIDEO OF THE WEEK: THE WEASELS ARE BACK!

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By Miriam Raftery

August 10, 2018 (Lakeside) – Weasels haven’t been seen for five years at Lakeside’s Lindo Lake County Park. But this morning, photographer Billy Ortiz videotaped a welcome sight:  a weasel has returned.

“This weasel brings me more joy than any other animal, just cracks me up watching its antics,” he wrote on Facebook. 

Ortiz adds this advice: “If you want to catch a glimpse of it, hit the park between 7 and 9 a.m. You will find it across from the horseshoe pits.”

Just why the weasels went away previously is unknown. But county parks staff concerned about gopher holes posing trip hazards near walkways had eradicated gophers—a favorite food of weasels.

Now the natural rodent control is back – much to the delight of wildlife watchers in Lakeside.

 


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Comments

Weasels in North SD county??

What time of day or night would weasels threaten a henhouse?? We have been shutting the henhouse door faithfully a sundown and opening it at dawn ...is this all we need to do? or will they attack in broad daylight? Will a single electric shock wire work? If so what height? 6"? 3"?

Be Careful of what you wish for PC.ers.

The wesel is very destructive to wildlife, as the rat and other rodent type classifications. What mite be cute today will be devastating in a few years. They reproduce quite well on their own and could quickly overtake the native wildlife, as it is nothing to them to attack and kill a much larger prey than themselves. The poultry industry is a huge anti-advocate for Ferrets as pets. One weasel in the hen house, or caged hen factory, and you have slaughter on your hands. They just love to kill things, it's their nature. While we do have weasels, tiny skinny ones like the long tailed weasel, which grows to only about a foot long, including the long tail. Comparatively, the Ferret is like the Arnolds of the weasel world. Enjoy your baby chickens and birds now, these things are 10x worse than the ground squirrels.

This variety of weasel is native to our area, Kevin.

I should have clarified this is not an escaped pet, though rare here, they are native to our region.  It is true, though, that they can be destructive if they find their way into a henhouse, just as some other species can including snakes, bobcats and mountain lions.