TORONTO STAR LETTER TO THE EDITOR; AUGUST 1, 2004 Deal with mad cow, not tiny squirrel Re: Fur flies over tiny squirrel, July 29 Kudos to Steve Patterson in his efforts with his lawfully-imported flying squirrel, Sabrina. He follows all the rules and still the bureaucrats aren't satisfied. Does the Canadian Food Inspection Agency have nothing better to do than to get two highly-paid Peel Regional police officers and two highly-paid federal officials to bother someone over one tiny squirrel? What about mad cow disease, PCB-loaded farmed salmon, mercury-polluted lake fish and genetically-modified "Franken foods?" These are far more worrying and important to everyday Canadians than wasting tax dollars chasing one little rodent. Get your priorities straight. Wild animals cross the border all the time without anyone's permission. It's called the ebb and flow of nature or even migration. Get used to it. If you're so worried about alien animals, start working with the United States to ban the importation of alien species for use as pets - such as Gambian rats, monkeys, lizards, and various lethal snakes. As far as monkey pox goes, get the squirrel blood-tested by a vet. Humans are far more likely to bring home devastating diseases, or have you forgotten SARS, AIDS, and the Asian long-horned beetle? Did you fix that zebra mussel problem yet? Didn't think so. Why is the Food Inspection Agency involved anyway? Squirrels aren't food. Edward Fenner, Aurora