Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Blue squirrel


 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was delete and redirect to Siberian fur trade. Randykitty (talk) 14:54, 18 December 2018 (UTC)

Blue squirrel

 * – ( View AfD View log  Stats )

Accusations of being a hoax here; for this particular article, I'm nominating on behalf of an IP editor. I dream of horses (My talk page) (My edits) @ 03:45, 11 December 2018 (UTC)
 * Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Animal-related deletion discussions. I dream of horses (My talk page) (My edits) @  03:46, 11 December 2018 (UTC)


 * Delete, sources do not back up the content at all. Ten Pound Hammer • (What did I screw up now?) 03:47, 11 December 2018 (UTC)
 * Delete, while not a hoax, the many of the sources are unreliable/misleading or even satire. MarkZusab (talk) 04:05, 11 December 2018 (UTC)
 * Comment, after reading other people's comments, I have retracted my decision to delete. It appears that this article is about two different things, blue squirrel fur as part of the fur trade in Russia and squirrels dyed blue. Perhaps the article should have a large section deleted, and expand on the fur trade aspect? MarkZusab (talk) 01:40, 12 December 2018 (UTC)


 * Redirect – to Siberian fur trade Note The first paragraph under "Sightings" seems to be speaking of a species of squirrel that may have actually existed in Asia. The sourcing is pretty thin. All of the more contemporary reports come from unreliable sources or "news of the weird" type observations of squirrels that may have encountered blue dye, so I'd argue that that part of the article should be deleted as not noteworthy, while the first part might be kept. In contrast, the article at Purple squirrel (animal) consists only of these sorts of contemporary reports. Photos notwithstanding, they do not appear to be reliably speaking of a naturally occurring squirrel variant.  — jmcgnh (talk) (contribs) 05:02, 11 December 2018 (UTC)
 * If there is or was an actual species like this, that's actually an argument to delete this article, not to keep it, as our article would be confusing a random sampling of dyed grey squirrels with those animals. Hijiri 88 ( 聖やや ) 09:58, 12 December 2018 (UTC)
 * Update to !vote for redirect.  — jmcgnh (talk) (contribs) 23:55, 16 December 2018 (UTC)


 * Keep Blue squirrel fur was exhibited at the Great Exhibition and seems to have been a regular feature of the fur trade in Russia. Andrew D. (talk) 08:58, 11 December 2018 (UTC)


 * Delete- yes, a squirrel that gets itself covered in coloured dye will end up that colour. This stunningly perceptive observation, plus a handful of "news-of-the-weird" tabloid writeups do not make for an encyclopedia article. Reyk YO! 10:34, 11 December 2018 (UTC)
 * Keep. It is plain by this article here that there is such an animal by the name of "blue squirrel." This may, in fact, be only a blueish-like hue, which appears as such to the naked human eye when looking upon its fur. Perhaps it would be helpful to add the animal's taxonomic name, which has a unique quality of dispelling all doubts about the authenticity of the animal. Without the taxonomic name, the animal in question remains a mystery, with only "reported" sightings.Davidbena (talk) 16:54, 11 December 2018 (UTC)


 * If there is a taxonomic name, there's a roughly 99.9% chance that we've already got an article on it under some other title. In that case, the result should be delete and redirect. Barring that, this nonspecific name drop isn't enough for an article even if you combine it with the tabloid crap about dyed animals. Reyk YO! 18:49, 11 December 2018 (UTC)
 * User:Reyk, from the article on the Taiga, it seems that this squirrel is endemic to the arctic or Siberian region. If that is the case, the name "blue squirrel" may only reflect a local dialect of Russian. In any case, there may already be an article on this animal in the Russian language. I'll try and check around for the name in the Russian language.Davidbena (talk) 22:00, 11 December 2018 (UTC)


 * Comment, "blue squirrel? thats as crazy as a purple squirrel ... or a red squirrel" ... "um, excuse me coola, there is a Red squirrel" "oh." Coolabahapple (talk) 00:02, 12 December 2018 (UTC)
 * Wait, do folks where you're from (... Australia?) not generally know that red squirrels are a thing? Growing up in Ireland (quite near Saint Anne's Park) in the 1990s red squirrels were the default for me and my primary school classmates. I've never talked to my American colleagues about squirrel taxonomy, but I would be surprised if any of them actually responded with "That's crazy" on hearing that red squirrels were a thing. We have a Purple squirrel (animal) article, but it's not much better than this one, and if opening AFDs wasn't such a pain (Thanks, committee-penned guidelines!) I would probably send that article the same way as this one. Hijiri 88 ( 聖やや ) 09:55, 12 December 2018 (UTC)
 * thanks, do know about reds (much cuter than the big boofy greys:)), having childhood books like Squirrel Nutkin and ladybird books on british animals, my above comment was to highlight the ridiculousness of having a blue article, i should have realised that wp would also have an article on purple ones....Coolabahapple (talk) 20:08, 12 December 2018 (UTC)


 * Delete Arguments that this is not a hoax have been unconvincing. Best err on the side of caution. I honestly don't know why people who are unable to find better evidence that this is a real thing would argue otherwise. Hijiri 88 ( 聖やや ) 09:55, 12 December 2018 (UTC)
 * So far, I've been unable to find anything on this animal from a scientific (reliable) source.Davidbena (talk) 16:02, 12 December 2018 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.