CLASSIC: California Schoolchildren and the Great Squirrel War

Summary

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Ridiculous History – "CLASSIC: California Schoolchildren and the Great Squirrel War"

Podcast: Ridiculous History (iHeartPodcasts)
Hosts: Ben Bowlin & Noel Brown
Date: March 28, 2026
Episode Theme:
This episode explores the bizarre and little-known 1918 episode in California's history when schoolchildren were drafted into a massive, state-supported campaign to eradicate ground squirrels—an effort that became known as the "Great Squirrel War." Ben and Noel illuminate how patriotism, propaganda, and prize money turned kids into "school soldiers" in the battle against an agricultural pest, all while blending humor, historical insight, and a heavy dose of the ridiculous.

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Main Theme Overview

The episode recounts the surreal history of California's 1918 "Squirrel Week," in which schoolchildren were mobilized—complete with government propaganda and cash rewards—to kill ground squirrels regarded as major agricultural pests. The hosts detail the wide-ranging and borderline militaristic measures, the odd blend of child patriotism and grisly contest, and the lingering ramifications for both ecology and culture.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Pests, Propaganda, and Peculiar Wars (03:42–08:23)

• Pest Infestations: Ben and Noel share personal anecdotes about living with bats and squirrels, emphasizing the timeless human urge to keep animals "outside" and the universal experience with pests.
• Historical Precedents: Animals have often clashed with humans, from biblical plagues to California's crisis.
  • Notable Quote (08:02, Noel): "We like animals when they’re cute and cuddly and they keep a healthy distance from us ... but as soon as they start eating our lunch, it will not stand. This animal aggression will not stand."

The 1918 Squirrel Crisis (08:23–11:00)

• The Squirrel Epidemic:
  • California faced a ground squirrel epidemic, costing about $30 million in crop losses (≈$500 million today).
  • Squirrels were seen not just as pests, but possible disease vectors (plague).
• Mobilizing Children:
  • California launched a campaign mobilizing children as "school soldiers."
  • Notable Quote (10:03, Ben quoting George H. Heck):
    "We have enemies here at home more destructive perhaps than some of the enemies our boys are fighting in the trenches."

Squirrel Week: A PR Blitz (11:00–14:33)

• Massive Propaganda Effort:
  • $40,000 allocated (from emergency wartime funds) for posters, pamphlets, and leaflets.
  • Parallels with modern promotional events like "Shark Week."
  • Propaganda depicted squirrels dining as aristocrats, and even gave them German helmets—a sly nod to anti-German sentiment of WWI.
    • Notable Moment (14:17, Noel): "On the bottom outside of the circle ... are two squirrels wearing those Kaiser Wilhelm kind of spiked helmets."

Methods and Motivations (14:40–17:57)

• Methods for Extermination:
  • Pamphlets included recipes for strychnine-laced grain, advocated shooting, drowning, gas, and even "submarining" (interpreted as another way to drown).
    • Memorable Slogan (17:38, Ben):
      "A squirrel in time saves killing nine."
• Rewards and Competition:
  • Prizes at each school: $50 for first (≈$800 today), $30 for second ($500), and $20 for third ($330).
  • Kids could win big money relative to their age, spurring intense competition.

Dark Side: Macabre Enthusiasm (17:57–21:22)

• Gleeful "Squirrelocide":
  • Children sent in dead squirrels, and some sent tails directly to the commissioner, whose office began to reek.
    • Notable Quote (19:39, Ben):
      "My wife won't touch me. She says I reek of death and rodents."
• Official and Actual Tallies:
  • Over 100,000 squirrels officially recorded dead during Squirrel Week; likely far more in reality.
  • Children kept killing squirrels for an "indefinite period" after.

Ecological Complexities & Lingering Attitudes (21:23–27:57)

• What’s a "Ground Squirrel"?
  • Discussion about species: ground squirrels vs. tree squirrels.
  • Playful debate on terminology for squirrel enthusiasts ("squirrelologists," "scuriologists," "rodentologists").
    • Fun Moment (22:58, Ben):
      "English is a malleable language for sure. Squirrel. Squirrel. That's hard."
• Enduring Pest Status:
  • Ground squirrels are still seen as pests.
  • Even modern university web pages use militaristic squirrel cartoons.
• Bounty Hunting Broader Context:
  • Other states had bounties for "troublesome animals."
  • Pennsylvania famously spent $90,000 eradicating birds that actually helped agriculture by consuming crop pests.

Reflections and Modern Parallels (27:57–29:22)

• Ecosystem Complexity:
  • The drive to eradicate one species often backfires due to unforeseen ecological effects.
• Contemporary Perspective:
  • Such campaigns today are handled by professionals, with many "pest" animals protected by law.
  • Ben checks with producer Casey, whose family encountered bats—now typically protected.

Closing Thoughts and Listener Engagement (29:22–30:43)

• Global Pests:
  • Listeners are invited to share pest experiences from around the world—like kangaroos in Australia.
• Community Links:
  • Plug for the "Ridiculous Historians" Facebook group and new contact email.
  • Friendly banter and signature playful closing.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

| Timestamp | Speaker | Quote / Moment | |-----------|------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 08:02 | Noel | "We like animals when they’re cute and cuddly ... but as soon as they start eating our lunch, it will not stand. This animal aggression will not stand." | | 10:03 | Ben | (quoting George H. Heck) "We have enemies here at home more destructive perhaps than some of the enemies our boys are fighting in the trenches." | | 14:17 | Noel | "On the bottom outside of the circle ... are two squirrels wearing those Kaiser Wilhelm kind of spiked helmets?" | | 17:38 | Ben | "A squirrel in time saves killing nine." | | 19:39 | Ben (paraphrasing) | "My wife won't touch me. She says I reek of death and rodents. I added that last part. There’s a little bit of poetic license." | | 23:51 | Casey | (on French word for squirrel) "It's not easy. In fact, it's a weird one. The French word for squirrel is rolls off the tongue. Right?" | | 21:48 | Ben | (on competition among schoolchildren) "So now we have to ask ourselves, were these kids very, very talented squirrel assassins or were there just that many squirrels? Were the hills alive with the chitters of squirrels?" |

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Introduction and Pest Precedents: 03:42 – 08:23
• Squirrel War Context & Propaganda: 08:23 – 14:33
• Campaign Methods & Prize System: 14:40 – 17:57
• Child Involvement & Aftermath: 17:57 – 21:22
• Species and Terminology: 21:23 – 23:51
• Ecological Concerns & Historical Bounties: 26:41 – 27:57
• Modern-Day Reflection & Outro: 27:57 – end

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Tone & Style

True to Ridiculous History, the episode is both playful and thoughtful, mixing macabre absurdity ("gleeful murder" and "squirrelocide") with critical reflection on propaganda and environmental consequences. The hosts' comedic rapport and asides ensure the serious oddity of squirrel mass extermination never feels dry or moralistic, instead highlighting the ridiculous lengths societies can go to protect their interests—and the unexpected roles children have played in history's stranger chapters.

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Conclusion

The Great Squirrel War is an unforgettable illustration of human-animal conflict, the manipulative power of propaganda, and America's historical embrace of "solutions" with unintended consequences. If you want a history lesson that will make you laugh, cringe, and wonder just how ridiculous we can be, this episode delivers—with tails to spare.

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Want to Share Your Own Pest Story?

• Write to the show at ridiculousheartpodcastnetwork.com
• Join the Ridiculous Historians Facebook group
• Connect on Instagram or directly with the hosts

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For more bizarre deep-dives, tune into Ridiculous History wherever you get your podcasts!

Transcript

[A]

Fellow ridiculous historians, welcome back to this week's classic episode. We are quickly approaching the moment, Noel, where our pal Max Williams joins the show.

[B]

That's true. And this is a really fun episode to mark the occasion. Or, you know, at least getting close to the occasion that time California schoolchildren participated in something called the Great Squirrel War.

[A]

Oh my gosh, this is crazy. We don't even want to spoil it. Let's just roll the tape.

[B]

Let's do it.

[C]

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[A]

Ridiculous History is a production of iHeartradio. Friends, neighbors, farmers, city dwellers, rural and urban residents alike. Have you ever had an infestation of pest, say roaches or rats or bats and so on? Hi, I'm Ben.

[B]

I'm Noel. No, but I did once have a pet squirrel named Mr. Muffin Tops.

[A]

Was it an animal that lived nearby or an animal in a cage?

[B]

Yes, both. Okay, I made that up. I just wanted to say Mr. Muffin Tops, but and I would honestly be terrified to have a squirrel for a pet. I'm very skittish around creatures that have unpredictable movements and beady eyes, which squirrels definitely do.

[A]

I've had in my various stages of life, I've lived in places that were infested with bats, opossums, and of course, squirrels, which are wily creatures. I have a friend here in Atlanta where this podcast is based, who raised a squirrel in his apartment. And the squirrel was very friendly, very nice. But eventually, you know, being wild animals, when they reach adulthood, it's time to say goodbye, right? It was a rescue squirrel, by the way. He didn't steal it. But how could I mention infestations without talking about one of the number one infestations in my heart and yours, Noel super producer Casey Pegram.

[B]

It's just an infestation of joy and kindness.

[A]

I know.

[B]

And goodwill towards humanity?

[A]

Yes, yes. And even squirrels, I would imagine. Casey, did you ever have an infestation in your house or your neighborhood growing up?

[G]

Yeah, actually, my parents house, we had bats in the attic and my room was upstairs. And so I was the only one kind of in close proximity to said bats, like throughout the day. And I would just hear these, like, kind of faint chirping sounds. And I, you know, I reported this to my parents over and over, tried to get them to believe me, and they were just like, no, it's just like a fan that's squeaky up there, you know. And so one day my mom goes into the attic and what does she see but a bat, like feet in front of her face and she screams and freaks out. And then they believe me about the bats after that point. But I had actually gone as far as to like, take some of my audio recording gear and put it up to the vent and like record them and then boost it and post and, you know, amplify the signal, enhance, and. Sounded like bats to me, but required a little more proof.

[B]

You really. I think you ended up in the wrong field. You should have become. You should have been like a. Like a Ghostbuster for pets.

[A]

Exactly.

[B]

With your forensic tools and your meters and all that.

[G]

That's right.

[A]

Your quantum monitor. Yeah, exactly, Casey. On the case, I had the same. I'm bonding with you here, Casey, because I had the same situation I was in. I lived in a bonus room in our house, and we had this unfinished thing that was pretty much an attic, but had a creepy door to it. And I remember vividly those weird chirping noises. But once you see them in your house, it's surprising. The point of this relatively circuitous introduction is to say that there is one thing that unifies a lot of homeowners across the world, and that is that we like our outside animals to stay outside. And we often, in the course of human civilization, come into conflict with animals. And this is something historically, happens all the time. You know, there are stories of locusts in ancient texts. There are stories of other things. I'm off the top of the dome here.

[B]

Frogs.

[A]

There we go.

[B]

You know, the plagues, the biblical ones. The locusts would eat, would decimate fields of grain and other crops. And that's the thing. We like animals when they're cute and cuddly and they keep a healthy distance from us and they stay in their animal lanes. But as soon as they start eating our lunch, it will not stand. This animal aggression will not stand.

[A]

My friends and we often band together as humans to cooperatively combat the threats posed by wild animals. Today's story takes us all the way back to 1918, as American soldiers were battling German forces in France. There was an entirely new war going on in California. And it used child soldiers of all places.

[B]

Yeah, this is how a fantastic article on Atlas Obscura sets up this tale. And little spoiler alert here. In 1918, California drafted children into a war on squirrels is the title of this article by the fantastic Dave Gilson. I had never heard of this. Ben. The Squirrel War. We know about war as real wars that were started by all kinds of arbitrary things. Like there's the stray dog war. There was the one about the camel. There was the one about like a bucket. This is not a real war, but it involves some anti German propaganda a little down the line. That's why the setup works so well. But here's the thing. In California, they were in the midst of a ground squirrel epidemic. These little buggers were consuming about $30 million worth of crops, which, if you enter that into the old inflation calculator, it's approaching $500 million of foodstuffs.

[A]

Yeah, absolutely. I personally think squirrels are cute. I know they're not for everybody, but I've also never been in a situation where they are literally eating the food supply on which I would. So these squirrels were not loved. They were not lovable. They were seen as a source of pestilence, you know, and they were thought to be a vector for the plague. So California addressed the problem. And we've got a great quote from state Horticulture Commissioner George H. Heck, which is a cool name. So old man Heck says we have enemies here at home more destructive perhaps, than some of the enemies our boys are fighting in the trenches. He said this as part of an impassioned call up for what he called school soldiers. To self organize within your classroom, your friends, or your overall school to eradicate these ground squirrels. In California as part of a seven day event they called Squirrel Week because a week is seven days long.

[B]

Is that like Shark Week?

[A]

It is a little more aggro than Shark Week, but deep cut. Nice reference. Can we mention that on air?

[B]

Back to the old parent company? Yeah, back to several parent companies ago. Shark Week was a regular occurrence around the office. People still love Shark Week. That's still a thing, right?

[A]

Yeah, Shark Week is great. It's good stuff to watch. I think what got us is way back in the day when we worked with Discovery, every podcast was told to come up with Something related to Shark Week. And I don't know if I ever mentioned this to you, but. But this was when Scott Benjamin and I were still doing car stuff. And we say, guys, car stuff and sharks. How do we make this work? But we did. Twice. You can check them out. They're not the best episodes, but they're out there.

[B]

I'm sure they're a lot of fun. Ben. I enjoy that entire catalog, and I miss it dearly, just like everyone else. It's true. But you know what? Forget move over Shark Week. It's time for Squirrel Week. And what Squirrel Week was, was a promotion that the government pumped a pretty penn to print and disseminate pamphlets, posters, and all kinds of literature, because that's what you spent money on in those days. I don't know, maybe some broadcast pieces. What do you think?

[A]

Yeah. Public speeches. California set aside 40 large from their Emergency Wartime Fund to create this Squirrel Week campaign. And it was a PR blitz, as you said, Noel. Around 34,000 posters popped up around the state. Half a million leaflets. And the pamphlet, which you can see, the pamphlet is not subtle. You can see pictures of this in the article and then in archival reports from papers of the time. It says it's a nice old timey propaganda cartoon kind of approach. And it says in the top left, kill the squirrels. And it shows a mother or a teacher and instructing children to scatter poison barley. And then it shows squirrels in the bottom. Mr. And Mrs. Squirrel dining on. Dining like kings. Right?

[B]

Yeah, literally. And they've all got little speech bubbles next to them. And it's like the caption for this particular comic is our star Borders. As though they're at some sort of bed and breakfast. Like we're giving them free, you know, free room and board. And one of the. Mrs. Squirrel, I'm sorry, Mr. Squirrel is saying, waiter, today I'll have my favorite dish, whole wheat cakes. And then Mrs. Squirrel replies, and you may serve me some nice young barley sprouts.

[A]

And she's holding up glasses like opera glasses. Opera glasses. And in the back, behind the hapless waiter who has a tag describing him as a farmer, there is a sign that says, hotel California Board bill for squirrels in 1917, $30 million. So that's the amount of damage this ground squirrel infestation was doing to the agriculture of California.

[B]

Here's my favorite little detail. I actually didn't notice this until just now. On the bottom outside of the circle. That's sort of the. You know, the cartoon panel that's framing the Squirrel scene are two squirrels wearing those Kaiser Wilhelm kind of spiked helmets?

[A]

Yep.

[B]

And that's the little touch of anti German propaganda. And we'll hear that in some of these other pamphlets.

[A]

Right, So what they wanted to do in this Squirrel Week campaign was to inspire patriotism in kids who knew that their relatives or maybe even one of their parents was active in the war effort. They wanted these kids to feel like they were doing their part by sprinkling rodenticide outside of these various squirrels burrows. The pamphlet even included a recipe for strychnine laced grain as well as suggestions for other squirrel killing methods. Shooting, drowning, the use of poisonous gas. This is heavy, heavy stuff for children. But they knew that money talks, right? The heart may want what it wants, but the pocketbook does too. So just in case doing one's patriotic duty was not inspiration enough, they also sweeten the pot with rewards for the kids who killed the most squirrels.

[B]

Yeah, it was a tiered reward system. 50 bucks for the winner at each elementary school. The organization behind this must have been pretty decent, right?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So 50 bucks for the grand prize and then you got your runners up making 30 and 20. And Ben, you want a handy dandy inflation calculatron? Those bad boys?

[A]

Sure. 50 bucks is around $800 today. Sounds, I know, especially can you imagine, you're in elementary school, you get $800.

[B]

What are you even going to do with that? Buy more ammunition for your Red Rider BB gun, I imagine.

[A]

I don't know man. They might get in like this feedback loop and just buy more. Strict nine to poison the wheat.

[B]

How many full blown psychopaths do you think this program created, Ben?

[A]

Probably about 317.

[B]

Can you put that in the inflation calculator?

[A]

So if you got the runner up position and you got $30, that was still $500 back then. And then if you got 20 bucks, that was still 330 something dollars. So this is good cash for psychopaths,

[B]

potential budding psychopaths, aspiring psychopaths.

[A]

Right?

[B]

Totally. So the thing that's really interesting is this was all happening during World War I and there was always a need for propaganda. And they were certainly able to sneak these messages into this material for Squirrel Week and start making the squirrels like stand ins for the greater enemy at large. And the language even really started to shift to some slogans like this. He preys on our crops and countless hoards. He fills the ranks of the killed in true military fashion. You know why, why hesitate? We can get them.

[A]

How?

[B]

Poison them, Gas em, Drown them, Shoot Them, trap them, submarine them. How do you submarine a squirrel?

[A]

It feels like just a different way of saying, drown them. They also had neat little catchphrases, right? In one text, it says, millions of food must be saved. Slay the mother squirrel during breeding season, March to May. Remember, a squirrel in time saves killing nine.

[B]

That's right.

[A]

But that. See, there's a loophole with that. And I don't want to be too cold, but if we are addressing the reward system in play, then you would want to kill nine squirrels. You wouldn't want to kill them early. You know what I mean? They didn't think that all the way through, but they had a lot of money on the line. And with this creeping propaganda, with these squirrels being painted increasingly as German soldiers, if we're being honest, we see the cause move beyond the boundaries of California. The US Food administrator at the time, a guy named Herbert Hoover, who would later go on to be president, heartily approved of this effort because he said they were saving vast quantities of food which might otherwise be used for support of our armies abroad. So we're not just fighting pests in California. We're helping the war effort in Europe.

[B]

Yeah, for sure. I mean, it's empowering. And again, this is kids. This is directed at kids. This is a school, like box top program, essentially. But instead of box tops, you're bringing in squirrel tails or literally entire dead squirrel carcasses. There's an image from the Internet Archive that's posted on this Atlas Obscura article where it is a barbed wire fence hung with dozens of dead squirrels. I mean, it is very macabre. There's even instructions published for how to hook up a tube to the exhaust pipe of a car and fill squirrel burrows with carbon monoxide to literally gas them out.

[A]

And kids loved this.

[B]

Exactly. Just gleeful murder.

[A]

Kids loved this. They loved it so much that some kids were impatient. They didn't want to wait for all the tallies. So they started sending squirrel carcasses directly to Commissioner Heck, and even before Squirrel week started. So his office literally began to reek. And he made a special request. The children no longer send him any more tails directly. And he told all the county commissioners working for him, like, okay, count the tails, keep the tally, but then please get rid of them. Bury them or something. Stop sending squirrel tails to my office. My wife won't touch me. She says I reek of death and rodents. I added that last part. There's a little bit of poetic license,

[B]

but it was a smashing success because I think they tallied somewhere, you know. Official number. The official number was upwards of 100,000

[A]

squirrels dead were recorded.

[B]

But it's assumed that it would have exceeded that number by quite a lot. Just with the attitude of rampant squirrel murder that was pervasive in all of California around this time. And that attitude continued into the future, even once the program expired.

[A]

That's right. We don't know how long it lasted after Squirrel Week. We do know, however, thanks to a report called California Ground Squirrels, a bulletin dealing with life history, habits and control of the ground squirrels in California, that this machine could not switch on and off. This cultural impetus that they had created continued on. And for a quote, indefinite period of time afterwards, these kids kept killing squirrels. We do have one example. Just to give us a snapshot of the level of squirrel genocide occurring here in Lassen county later in the year. There was another anti squirrel campaign. One girl, one female student brought in 3,780 tails and one boy brought in 3,770. So now we have to ask ourselves, were these kids very, very talented squirrel assassins or were there just that many squirrels? Were the hills alive with the chitters of squirrels?

[B]

Yeah, the hills have eyes, my friend. Tiny, beady, fidgety squirrel eyes and tails. Did we talk about the difference between a bushy tailed tree squirrel and a little bit more of a skinny tailed chipmunk looking ground squirrel?

[A]

We have not. That's a good call. Let's get into that. So ground squirrels technically are known as Otospermaphilis beachiae.

[B]

Yeah, I was having a hard time with that second part too because it's

[A]

got the double E and then the

[B]

Y and then the Y.

[A]

The plot twist Y.

[B]

It's a big plot twist Y. But I think maybe. Any intrepid, ridiculous historians out there that are. What do you call that? Squirrel files.

[A]

You know, it's a good question, Noel. I don't know whether we have in this language a specific word for squirrels, but I do have good news. We can make one up. The language is flexible enough. Let's see, we could say squirrel olologist, which is tough.

[B]

That's real.

[A]

No, I mean we. Well, it is now.

[B]

Okay, got it. English is a malleable language for sure. Squirrel. Squirrel. That's hard.

[A]

Squirrel. How about. Okay, so squirrels are part of Scuridae family. So maybe they could call themselves scuriologists. That sounds a little bit more legitimate. Although wait, now that I think about it, and I've seen this question before somewhere, I think rodentologist is actually a word Squirrel ologist might not be, but rodentologist, I'll bet some scratch on that.

[B]

Surely that must be a thing.

[A]

All right, so rodentologist is probably the closest we'll get until ridiculous historians we hear from you because as you said, no English is malleable. It is a living language. And you know, this might be interesting. Hey, Casey, what's the French word for squirrel? I'm just curious to see whether that would be easier.

[G]

It's not easy. In fact, it's a weird one. The French word for squirrel is rolls off the tongue. Right?

[B]

Oh, man.

[A]

Casey on the case, I think we might have to stick with squirrel guys or rodentologist. Squirrel week ended on May 4. Children continued hunting and killing squirrels to combat this campaign, and the state considered this a great success. According to reports, the crop yields bounced back in areas where squirrels had been eradicated. So there was a clear correlation. But here we are a little more than a century later and ground squirrels are still considered insidious pests. You know what I mean?

[B]

Yeah, it's certainly a sight that we're used to around here in Georgia. But for me it's more the tree squirrels that I'm used to seeing. And whenever I go somewhere else and I see a different type of pervasive rodent like say chipmunks or whatever, that weirds me out because I totally do not remark upon like squirrels are like pigeons in New York City or something, something like that around here. It's just a very common occurrence and they don't really threaten me. But have you ever seen like a rogue squirrel that'll like it looks a little slack jawed and like may like shamble too close to you, like it's got the rabies or something. That's no fun.

[A]

Yeah, I mean, a lot of people here hate squirrels. And Casey, you were mentioning off air that some of your friends from different parts of the world find squirrels a little bit. What? Spooky?

[G]

Yeah, I guess. I mean, it's hard to imagine as an American who's been seeing them their whole life, but. Yeah, if you're not used to it, apparently they can be quite upsetting.

[A]

I'll tell you, as I was looking through the differences of ground squirrels and tree squirrels, I feel like I ran into squirrels before ground squirrels before once, long ago. And it creeped me out because I saw them crawling on the ground, you know, like belly on the ground. And I thought they had had their. I thought they had their backs broken or something until I realized they were just. That's just Their method of locomotion, this was in Arizona. So those may not have been ground squirrels. Oh, no. Right in. And let us know what those weird little rodents were. We see the prejudice against ground squirrels continuing. Today. There was a University of California webpage about damage caused by ground squirrels and it featured an image of a squirrel wearing a helmet and aiming at the ground with a bazooka. So there is still a problem. And it is true, as strange as it may sound, California did indeed recruit child soldiers to wage war on ground squirrels.

[B]

But they weren't the first or the last to launch a tactical strike like this against these pests. In 1897, according to the same author as the Atlas Obscura piece in an interview he did with the Washington Post, the Washington Post in fact published a report citing that 30 U.S. states offered, quote, unquote, bounties for troublesome animals, including like panthers, the sinister ground squirrel, of course, pocket gophers, woodchucks, English sparrows and wolves. So this was definitely a thing that there was a precedent for. And Pennsylvania paid out around $90,000 in bounties for chicken hawks. And this is really interesting because the Post wrote, quote, it appears that Pennsylvania expended $90,000 in destroying birds worth $3,857,230 for the sake of saving $1,875 is to the poultry interest. What they mean by that is that these very same birds were actually killing thousands of mice. Each hawk, 1000 mice in a year's time. And these were very injurious to crops. So the math wasn't quite working out there.

[A]

Right. Because it's. I think at the time it was easy to forget how complex and interlinked every organism in an ecosystem is. It's sort of tough to figure out who the real culprit may be. And it's even more difficult to figure out what the long term ramifications of an eradication campaign will be in the future. However, today, if you are a school child listening to this and you are anxious to join in a murderous campaign against one type of animal or another, we have some tough news for you. Nowadays, these sorts of expeditions are left to professional exterminators. And as a matter of fact, in many states, common pests may be protected under law. So to bring it all back around to the example we had from super producer Casey Pegram. Casey, I imagine your family was not allowed to kill the bats. Is that correct?

[G]

That is correct. Although maybe I shouldn't tell this part of the story, but said bat in the attic caught my mom off guard and she kind of swung at it and happened to kill the poor thing. So I believe the rest were safely loaded out of the attic. We had a pest control person come over and I think they were able to shepherd them out without costing any more bat lives.

[B]

Casey on the case.

[A]

Casey on the case. And this concludes today's episode, but not our show. Tune in for our next episode when we expl a surprising opinion about Confederate memorials. Is that giving away too much? Noel?

[B]

Nope.

[A]

Nope. Okay, there we go. So thanks so much for tuning in. We would love to hear your infestation stories. We would like to hear about the common pest in your neck of the global woods that seem normal to you but amazing to outsiders. For instance, this is true, you guys. A lot of people in Australia hate kangaroos. Did you know that? I think they're so cool.

[B]

Well, they're probably just tired of them because they're just hopping out of the woodwork there in Australia. Or maybe not. Write in, let us know. Are they really as prevalent as we've been led to believe? From Crocodile Dundee films? Right?

[A]

Right. Shall we travel down to Australia to encounter kangaroos firsthand? And you can write to us directly. But wait. Dramatic sound cue, please. Casey. We have a new email address. Write to [e-mail] youm can also find us on social media, right, Noel?

[B]

Yep, you sure can. We've got a pretty popping Facebook group called the Ridiculous Historians where all kinds of fun things are happening every day. And that is at the Ridiculous Historians on Facebook. You can also find us on Instagram, you know, if you like. Or you can find us personally where I am Bryonic Insider and I am

[A]

in a burst of creativity. Ben Bolan, thanks as always to super producer Casey Pegram. Thanks to Alex Williams who composed our track.

[B]

And thanks to you, Ben Bolan, for being the benniest bolognest pal I could ever hope for. We'll see you next time. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

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