Jan 25, 2007 5:32 pm US/Eastern
N.J. To Ringwood Residents: Don't Eat The Squirrel
Toxic Dump May Have Led To Lead Contamination
by Christine Sloan
TRENTON (CBS) ―
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N.J. says eating too many squirrels, like the one pictured in this file photo, could be hazardous to the health of people who live near a toxic dump in the northern part of the state.
AP
If you're debating on what to cook up for dinner tonight, you may want to pass on the squirrel.
Residents near a toxic waste dump in the northern part of New Jersey are being warned not to eat the bushy-tailed rodents. The warning may seem, well, nuts, but it's no laughing matter for those who depend on the wildlife as a source of food.
The New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services is warning those who eat squirrel, especially children and pregnant women, to limit their consumption after a lead-contaminated squirrel was found near the Ringwood Mines Superfund site. The state has never issued a warning before on squirrel consumption.
A letter sent out to residents said that children should not eat squirrel more than once a month, pregant women no more than twice per month, and adults not more than twice per week.
Members of the Ramapough Mountain Indian Tribe have been hunting deer and squirrel in the woods of Ringwood for years -- it's a tradition fathers pass down to their sons.
"It's scary because after we've eaten so many squirrel, rabbit, deer and what not, we come to find out they're contaminated," Roger Degroat Sr., a Ramapough member tells CBS 2.
Other hunters are now concerned because they've been eating squirrel for some time now. They're worried the contamination may have began a while ago. "After eating lead after all these years, we didn't know it and then they come up and say don't eat nothing," said Jack Walker, an avid hunter.
In fact, some believe the contamination dates back decades from a nearby Ford Motor Co. plant in Mahwah. "It was dumped here illegally in the early 1960s and 1970s," said Borough Manager Kenneth Hetrick.
Degroat's son, Roger Jr., is worried about the contamination of other animals too. He says he noticed an odd coloring of a deer he had recently hunted. "One particular deer I shot, the fat was yellow. Down below this area, the water is an orange color," he said.
State officials say they have taken samples from several deer in the area and will be discussing the results at a meeting next week. Members of the tribe say they wil be there, but already the news has taken its toll on its members.
"I feel my ancestry is disappearing, my heritage," said tribe member Vivian Milligan.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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