A postcard arrived the other day, proudly proclaiming Exeter, Ontario, to be the home of “The Lucky White Squirrel”. I thought it was a joke; I’ve never heard of a white squirrel, let alone seen one. It took a couple of email exchanges with my buddy, and a little Google research, to convince me that she wasn’t pulling my leg.
There really ARE white squirrels, and better yet, squirrel WARS are fought over which town has the most right to lay claim to them. How did I miss this?
Exeter is a small Ontario town waging a single-handed campaign against several towns south of the border, all Yankee pretenders. Its Website, http://www.whitesquirrels.ca, loudly proclaims its local rodent population to be “All Squirrel, All White, All Canadian”. Roadside America, on the other hand, (“Your Online Guide to Offbeat Attractions) complains, “The town of Exeter, Ontario appears bent on total White Squirrel Supremacy”.
Exeter’s site demurely resists accusations of nefarious intent: “The goal of this web site is not to make a million dollars but help others cherish these White Wonders.”
And maybe help Stedmans V&S department store unload the town’s “largest collection of white squirrel souvenirs”. Just a thought.
Roadside America? Roadkill America, more like it.
POLLENATRIX 