Shoo It Away? Or Offer It a Long Spoon?

Looked out my back door the other day to find a squirrel helping itself to a Halloween pumpkin I'd had on my back step but never got around to carving:


It would climb inside, pull out a seed, then perch on top of the pumpkin to eat it:

You can learn more about the history of the DC area's squirrels (including where the black ones came from) in the Washington Post's recent article, Critter City.