Dementia Derived From Eating Squirrel Meat

Thanks Disinformation!

I know that urban hunting is currently seeing a resurgence in our metropolitan areas, and that folks all over are getting meats from anywhere they can. So, just in case you and yours are out scoring some dinner from an unorthodox source, steer clear of the squirrel brains.

The Economist notes that in our strange and economically unstable times, many are turning to eating meats from odder, less desirable animals. One tidbit is that mad-cow disease has broken out in Kentucky of late due to consumption of squirrel brains:

The manager of the Budgens supermarket in the London suburb of Crouch End says sales of squirrel meat have soared since he started selling it in 2010. The bushy-tailed tree-dwellers are just one category in a burgeoning market. Osgrow, a British-based firm, exports bison, crocodile (“ideal for barbecues”) and kudu meat to customers in countries where controls on wild meat are tighter.

Wild meat is not always tasty. Black bear is “bloody and a bit metallic”. Nor is it always healthy. Doctors in Kentucky say eating squirrel brains is linked to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (better known as mad-cow disease). Squirrels are now mainly sold headless.