Thursday, June 17, 2010

Arizona has done some squirrely things lately, but this the most squirrely---No, really, it is literally Squirrely

Good use of tax money?? I report, you decide...:)

Arizona Spends $1.25M to Save 250 Squirrels
""Arizona is spending $1.25 million to build bridges for endangered squirrels over a mountain road so they don't become roadkill and then monitor their health.
The money is being spent, officials said, because cars kill about five of these squirrels each year.
While most suburbanites may be baffled why anyone would protect a pesky squirrel, these are Mount Graham red squirrels, a breed once thought to be extinct. Only 250 of them are known to live near the top of Mount Graham. The Federal Highway Administration grant will be used to build rope bridges over the lone road through the squirrels' habitat, according to Arizona Department of Transportation Community Relations Director Timothy Tait. The DOT plans to install 41 of the "canopy tunnel crossings" at a cost of $400,000.
Another $160,000 will be spent on cameras to monitor the bridges, and the rest of the money will fund a project to monitor the rodents.


That works out to about $5,000 per squirrel.""

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