Squirrels making home at Hillcrest

CLOVIS — Hillcrest Park has seen a wide variety of animals since the zoo opened in the 1930s. Now there's a new attraction in the trees, around the golf course and near the dog park outside the zoo.

Squirrels have been spotted scurrying around.

City officials said the squirrel population at Hillcrest has increased from zero to about a half dozen in the past two years.

Clovis Parks and Recreation Director Mark Dayhoff said he's not aware of anyone releasing the nut hunters into the park, but "we have them."

"I'm going to say about two years ago we started noticing a few and the numbers have kind of increased."

Assistant Zoo Director Mark Yannotti said he first noticed the squirrels in Hillcrest this spring.

Yannotti said years ago a former zoo director had placed squirrel boxes in trees at Hillcrest in an attempt to attract the animals, without long-term success.

Yannotti said "it's questionable" whether or not the park would offer squirrels enough food to survive at Hillcrest.

"I don't see any immediate food source in Hillcrest," Yannotti said, adding that the park might just be providing the squirrels a place to climb trees.

But Dayhoff said the animals could be getting some help on the food front from some squirrel-friendly park visitors.

"We have a few pecan trees and that's where they hang out by the par 3 (golf course)," Dayhoff said. "I'm not sure what else they feed on, other than we have a couple of individuals who have been leaving peanuts around the trees. I've never seen anybody feeding them, but I've walked out and seen little piles of peanuts."

He said there is a group of "three or four" squirrels by the golf course "and then I've noticed a couple by the dog park."

Yannotti said he laughed the other day when he saw a squirrel in a tree in the dog park surrounded by dogs looking up at the animal.

"It must not be a smart squirrel," Yannotti joked.

Dayhoff said there is a larger squirrel population in the Colonial Park area.

"I live between Colonial and (Hillcrest) and we've got a couple in our neighborhood. It seems like they're moving south," he said.

— Editor David Stevens contributed to this report.