![]() ![]() ![]() Most pet squirrels were American Grey Squirrels, though Red Squirrels and Flying Squirrels also were around, enchanting the country with their devil-may-care attitudes and fluffy bodies.īy the 19th century, a canon of squirrel-care literature emerged for the enthusiast. ![]() Squirrels were sold in markets and found in the homes of wealthy urban families, and portraits of well-to-do children holding a reserved, polite upper-class squirrel attached to a gold chain leash were proudly displayed (some of which are currently at the Metropolitan Museum of Art). Museum of Fine Arts, Boston/Public Domainīy the 1700s, a golden era of squirrel ownership was in full swing. John Singleton Copley’s A Boy with a Flying Squirrel. While colonial Americans kept many types of wild animals as pets, squirrels “were the most popular,” according to Katherine Grier’s Pets in America, being relatively easy to keep. Mourning a squirrel’s death wasn’t as uncommon as you might think when Franklin wrote Mungo’s eulogy in the 18th- and 19th centuries, squirrels were fixtures in American homes, especially for children. “Few squirrels were better accomplished, for he had a good education, had traveled far, and seen much of the world.” Franklin wrote, adding, “Thou art fallen by the fangs of wanton, cruel Ranger!” ![]()
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