One thing about history is that it can make you grateful for present times, and here to bring you an example of that is this painting from 1765 by John Singleton Copley, _A Boy with a Flying Squirrel_. Note the chain attaching the tiny neck of the squirrel to the boy’s hand. Folks, I bring you glad tidings: we are well past the age when squirrels were considered excellent pets.
And this delights me, because, although adorable, squirrels would make fetid and disgusting indoor animals IMHO. But this was not the case throughout much of European and early U.S. history. From the Middle Ages through the mid-19th century, well-heeled and refined people kept squirrels.
For instance, take Benjamin Franklin, who loved his squirrel pets so much that he brought North American gray squirrels to England to give as gift pets. When one of his gifts, a squirrel named Mungo, died due to being eaten by a dog named Ranger, Franklin even wrote the squirrel a eulogy:.
“Few squirrels were better accomplish’d; for he has had a good Education, had travell’d far, and seen much of the World”.
Want more? Because Ben continues:.
” . . . Thou wouldst have more Freedom/ Too soon, alas! Didst thou obtain it,/ And, wandering,/ Fell by the merciless Fangs,/ Of wanton, cruel Ranger . . .”. It goes on, but we do not need to see more.
Sources: “The surprising link between squirrels and the Founding Fathers,” _Medium_, Kirsten Kirby, Feb 14, 2020. “When squirrels were one of America’s most popular pets,” _Atlas Obscura_, Natalie Zarrelli, April 28, 2017
