No ifs, ands or nuts

EPHRATA — That cute, little squirrel running around the neighborhood might seem harmless, but increasingly these invasive animals are the cause of two mayor annoyances in Grant County, power and fiber-optic outages.

Squirrels love to gnaw through the insulation on power lines, climb power poles and burrow into substations. Sometimes when this happens, they unfortunatel, complete an electrical circuit or chew through a fiber-optic strand and leave many without power or Internet service.

“Each time there is an outage, it is very expensive to the operation of the utility,” Grant PUD Fiber Specialist Russ Brethower said. “Anything we can do to prevent squirrel-related outages is good for everyone.”

Thankfully, there are ways to prevent squirrels from making a home on our properties. By trimming trees and tall shrubs, squirrels will have a harder time getting onto power lines and wires.

Sealing garbage cans, letting the family dog spend some time outside and not leaving any domestic pet food out at night will all help in preventing a squirrel’s attraction to your home. If you have a bird feeder, make sure it’s a squirrel-proof feeder or add a squirrel collar to your current feeder and keep it at the edge of your property.

Some other tips include inspecting your home for entry holes and sealing them with steel mesh, which the squirrel cannot chew through. Putting “Sniff-n-Stop” deterrent on external wires is another effective option that will not harm the squirrel but will keep them away from wires.