Marcia, just to let you know I'm very aware of the dangers a cat or any other pet faces by being left to roam wild. The screens Rascal was going through were not on a screen porch but any window on the house that was open so much as a crack. We had the choice of either making her an indoor/outdoor cat or never opening a window in the house ever again! I tried every method I could think of to keep her an indoor cat and nothing worked. My other cats are only outdoor when I am outside with them and go back inside with me. Khyssa is trained to always come to me when I whistle for her and Koneko is completely harness trained. I have always spayed or nuetered my pets as soon as they were old enough and I always get them the full range of yearly vacinations, including kitty luekemia. In the past I've rescued a number of pets that were out running loose in the neighborhood. Usually with the dogs I'm able to find their owners without much trouble but not so with cats. I once had a three-legged tom cat decide to adopt us but at the time I couldn't bring him into the house. I still got him nuetered and got all his shots and took care of him until I was able to find someone to adopt him. I also found a whole litter of white kittens that someone had dumped along side the road that I ended up taking to a local rescue group since all of them had goopy eyes and I just didn't have the money for that large of a vet bill. One of my sister's boyfriends gave her a baby flying squirrel as a gift but she quickly lost interest in it. I ended up being the one taking care of him and found him to be a very affectionate and intelligent animal. We had him for several years but then I bought my own house and with having several cats at my house I couldn't keep Rocky, the squirell, at my house as well. At the time he was living at my parents house but my mom really didn't want him there since he was a bit messy and his cage tended to smell a bit. By talking to an exotic pet store owner I was able to find someone with experience raising flying squirells to take Rocky in. I've been known to nag and scold friends or family members who don't get their pets nuetered or spayed in a timely matter. I'll even go out of my way to find them assistance in getting it done. People shouldn't keep animals unless they are willing and able to take proper care of them. Kara

Sure can't see any significant damage on the above photo. If nothing more than that on the others, I doubt I would worry much......could very well be squirrels. Remove the paper and tape - that can cause more issues than squirrels if left in place! If worried about further damage, you can gently wrap/squeeze some chicken wire or wire screening around the affected portions but I doubt that is really necessary. Bark damage is not critical unless the bark is completely removed all around the entire circumference of the trunk or branches.

We have a regular group of squirrels that frequent our yard. Not a huge amount, maybe 5-6 of them. We seem to be tolerating them at the moment. We feed birds and they are under the feeders getting the scraps and I don't mind that. We have two squirrel proof feeders and baffles so they aren't bothering the feeders much. We also have a large tube feeder that we put safflower seed in which is their least favorite food and 90% of the time, they avoid it. They have dug up bulbs and eaten them, and it was suggested to me to lay hardware cloth or wire mesh over the ground when I plant them and we did that. We cut pieces to size of the area where the bulbs were and it seems to me that they only bother the bulbs, the first year we plant them. It was suggested that they are attracted by disturbed soil. I only use crocus and daffodils, which I don't think they like that much, although they did eat crocus bulbs one fall. I only have a couple of lilies but they don't seem to bother those. I heard tulips are a favorite of theirs and for that and other reasons, I don't grow them. The other thing they did was to eat and run off with iris tubers that I just bought and planted in pots and put them in the shade for a few days. They also love to chew on succulent leaves, but only on those I have had in the house in pots for some reason. They never bother the hens and chicks, planted in the ground. So I don't bring my houseplants out for the summer now. I'm considering buying cactus in pots to surround an area of succulents I'd like to put outside in the summer. (g) I wouldn't consider trapping them. Nowhere to bring them to and they would just be replaced by new ones. You just have to find a way to live with them. :-)

My DH and I are about to begin our annual "squirrel relocation program". We have bird feeders which, of course, draw in the critters near the patio. The squirrels help themselves to newly planted annuals in my pots in addition to sharpening their teeth on our deck posts and vinyl patio chairs! One vertical post on our deck look like a beaver got to it!! We have a Hav-a-heart trap that we set on their path to the bird feeder baited with free seed. Once trapped, we provide the critter with a new home very far away (3+ miles and across a major highway). After a few squirrels "disappear" from our backyard community, it seems like the others don't readily take their place, even though we see them in neighbor's trees. I like to think that the word gets out among the varmints that our backyard is 'bad news'. We do this as needed throughout the growing season, but we stop in the late summer/early fall when these guys need to start building their winter homes. Aggie