New England squirrels frustrate farmers

New England’s red (Sciurus vulgaris) and gray squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) are eating up farmers’ crops since there’s not as much food and acorn crops as last year. Last year, a bumper crop of acorns and other food resulted in a larger than normal squirrel population in the summer, the Associated Pres reports. But this year, the squirrels are looking for nutrition elsewhere — in farms. Farmers have noted squirrels eating in their apple orchards, pumpkin patches and cornfields, but many of them are already dying off, often becoming roadkill on highways.

Read more in The Associated Press.