It’s happening for years, 10+ for sure, in Québec squirrels are eating the plastic around the cable. Some Costco light strings were very appreciated years ago by them. I thought it was a well known event?!?

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Some East Vancouver residents say they’re losing bulbs on their outdoor lights to the thieving rodents, who experts say also enjoy gnawing on the chewy cables.

Hastings-Sunrise resident Karyn Lam says she caught squirrels in the act on her surveillance camera last Saturday, after noticing about a dozen bulbs from her outdoor string lights had gone missing.

Security camera footage from a different part of their yard showed a squirrel running along their fence to chew a cable, eventually dropping the light bulb and scurrying away.

She says she’s since spoken with other people in the neighborhood that had the same issue, and a recent post in a Hastings-Sunrise Facebook group has dozens of comments from residents with similar experiences.

“Preventative measures can include using deterrents such as sprinkling cayenne pepper or spraying diluted hot sauce or apple cider vinegar on wires,” the statement said.

Kurc says the next time she replaces the lights, she plans to attach them to the wall and string them along the house so the squirrels can’t scale them as easily.

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