Montreal's expanding squirrels: How warm weather keeps them eating

Montreal's squirrels are taking advantage of the unseasonably warm weather this month to eat and then eat some more.

"They're getting pretty plump,"ChrisGrabasofSkedaddleHumane Wildlife Control told CBC Montreal's Daybreak.

"We can clearly see that. Everybody's been seeing that around the city."

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Grabas saysa"biological trigger" sets inwhen cooler temperatures arrive and the amount of daylight drops.

When that happens, they spend their days burying food in the ground for later on.

"What their brains are telling them is to feed and forage food," he explained.

"The problem isthey're getting the food now because the ground isn't frozen just yet."

Skunks, raccoons also affected

The same phenomenon is playing out with other urban wildlife, such as skunks and raccoons, Grabas said.

"We've got a lot of calls with skunks still being active,"he said.

"We have not seen this much activity [in the past] at this time of year."

Grabas said the extra heft on squirrels will give them a better chance of surviving the winter andlikely lead to a surge in thepopulation next spring.