The Wild Side of Life!

It is with regret and repulsion that I have to report that my much loved dog, Max, ate a whole squirrel this week. He crept out of the undergrowth crunching small bones before I saw the bushy tail disappear down his throat - ew. In the six years I've had him he has dispatched and buried 2 rabbits without eating them so this latest escapade came as a bit of a shock. It has lead to the realisation that I need to monitor which television shows he watches.

Looking back on the week, he was in the room when Jamie and Jimmy's Friday Night Feast was aired. Jimmy Doherty suggested that grey squirrels were a pest and harmed much of the countryside but, on the plus side, could in fact be eaten! The boys then went on to show various means of preparing, cooking and eating them.

This is nothing new as up and down the country (and abroad), people are holding roadkill dinners, parties and barbecues. Whilst in the USA this may constitute moose, deer, antelope and elk, in the UK it's more likely to be rabbit, pigeon, pheasant and, of course, squirrel. There are people who will eat any meat and the more the merrier.  The one that really turns my stomach is the River Cottage 10 bird roast where birds, in order of size, are stuffed one inside the other - so wrong.

Before becoming vegetarian I worked for a Consultant who would hold a supper party for all the junior doctors as they left and moved on to a new post. He lived in a lovely house in the countryside and supper would always be rabbit stew. Even then I would struggle to eat it with images of Peter Rabbit and Squirrel Nutkin flashing through my mind.

From now on the only cookery programme my dog will be allowed to watch is The Bake Off. At least they show a cute little squirrel in a beautiful setting without a chef sharpening his knives in the background. Today is the first Sunday of Lent and Max is definitely giving up squirrel and, hopefully, horse poo which he is also quite partial to ...