ELMER MICKS. holds a photo of one of three squirrels. with fluffy white tails and ior that have been making their home in his back yard. White squirrels a rare | The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, September 21, 2005 - A9 SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN. PHOTO sight around here A THORNHILL man says he’s never seen anything: like the three white squirrels living’ in his backyard. Elmer Micks, 83, and his wife Eileen were amazed when they noticed three baby with brownish ‘backs, white faces, under- bellies and big, bushy, white tails appear in| - their yard in August. “Unbelievable,” he said last week. “It’s unbelievable to me because J ‘killed about 100 of them when I was a trapper and I’ ve never read of it.” ' If you sit quietly in Micks’ yard, the little white.rodents appear, scampering from limb: _ to limb on tall towering trees, run along his wooden fence and sneak up onto ledges that have sunflower seeds and bowls of water. _ waiting for them, courtesy of Micks. Micks grew up working his family’s tra- plines and the closest he’s come to seeing a squirrel with these types of markings was whep,;he. spotted a.squirrel ‘with two white feet many years ago. — “Well this would be something to do with their genes,” Micks surmised. “It’s the Ker- mode squirrel.” And according to Rick Marshall, a wild- life biologist. for the Ministry of Environ- ment in Smithers, the white colour of the squirrels is indeed most likely a genetic mu- tation of some sort.; “A genetic thing has gone wrong with one of the genes which controls the pelt colour, which normally determines coat colour,” he ’ said. “One of them or several of them have been damaged or mutated to go white.” The animals are Red Squirrels, the type _ of squirrel most commonly found in Terrace: — Though they do have some traces of the red- dish brown colouring most Red Squirrels bear, they appear-almost silver as they scam- per about. Marshall said other animals with © white pelts have’ been spotted around the northwest, but are a rare sight. . “On the. Charlottes there was an albino ’ Starling, we’ve seen albino moose,” -Mar- shall said. “I’ve seen crows with white feathers in them and those are very ‘few and far between.” The white animals, however, are at a competitive disadvantage in the wild be- cause they are so conspicuous making them easy prey for predators. “Normally those don’t survive very long in the wild,” Marshall said. And predators are Micks’ primary con- cern for his unique little neighbours. “T would like to see them live long enough to have young, it would be interesting to see what would happen,” Micks said. REGIONAL DISTRICT OF KITIMAT-STIKINE 2005 GENERAL ELECTION OCTOBER 14, 2005. Public Notice i is given to the electors of t the Regional District of KitimatStikine that a general election will be held on Saturday, November 19, 2005 to | elect 5 Electoral Area Directors for a 3-year term on the Regional Board. _ Nominations for qualified candidates will be received during regular office hours at the office of the Regional District of Kitimat-Stikine, #300-4545 -‘Lazelle Avenue, Terrace BC, between the hours of 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday, ~ October 4, 2005, and 4:00 p.m. on Friday, October.14, 2005. Nomination documents are available only at the offices of the Regional District. NO NOMINATIONS WILL BE ACCEPTED AFTER 4:00 p.m. FRIDAY, © Canadian citizen e 18 years of age or older 250-635-1907. Cathy Jackson Chief Election Officer | | | A person. ‘is s qualified to be nominated, sa) ‘and to hold office as a member of local government if they meet the following criteria: ~e. resident of British Columbia for atleast 6 months immediately before the day nomination papers are filed; and © not disqualified by the Local Government Act or any other — enactment from voting in an election in British Columbia or from being nominated for, being elected to, or holding office. Beginning Tuesday, “October 4, "2005, “until close ‘of general voting for the Election; a copy of the list of registered electors will, upon signature, be available for public inspection, at the offices of the Regional District of Kitimat- Stikine during regular office hours, Monday to Friday, excluding Statutory ‘holidays. The list of registered electors has been produced on the basis of the Provincial List of Voters Prepared 0 under the Provincial Election Act. An objection to the NTO REGIS a person n whose ni name appears on th the List of Registered Electors may be made in accordance with the Local Government ~ Act until 4: 00 P-m., Friday, October 14, 2005. An objection may orily be made by a person entitled to be registered as an _ elector of the Regional District electoral area and can only be made on the basis that the person whose name appears has died or is not qualified to be registered as an elector of the Regional District electoral area. Further information on the foregoing may be obtained by contacting the Regional District Office at 250- 615 -6100 or the Chief Election Officer at . 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