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In 1902, an international trade deal was brokered between the U.S. and Canada. Frank Baker, superintendent of the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington, D.C., had been working on the deal for some time. In a letter from 1900 sent to several addresses in Ontario, Canada, Baker explains he is “very desirous of obtaining” a particular animal for the National Zoo and was searching for a contact who could “furnish these animals.” Then, in his 1902 report to the U.S. Congress, Smithsonian Secretary Samuel Langley confirmed that eight of the desired animals were received from Rondeau Park on the shore of Lake Erie in Ontario in exchange for some animals from D.C. What was it that Frank Baker was so desirous of? What animal could be found in Ontario, Canada, but was missing 350 miles south in D.C.? Squirrels, of course. But not just any squirrels. Black squirrels.
