I must confess that I do not throw away old socks. I pretty much don’t throw away anything, to tell you the truth. The apple and cheese platter I had for lunch? It’s sitting in my office, cleaned and ready to be used to hold paint. And every sock that has a hole in it goes into an orange box where it will ultimately be turned into a puppet, sooner or later.

But what if your hoarded—I mean reused!—refuge could be used for something more meaningful and important, such as studying a rare form of animal? Researchers at the UC Davis Sierra Nevada Adaptive Management Program are using old socks to help attract and study the rare Pacific fisher weasel.

People almost never catch a glimpse of this weasel, as it spends most of its life in trees cleverly avoiding predators and other threats. Apparently the weasel is very camera shy, so the researchers have to bait it with food in order to get good photos—and they are doing this by stuffing chicken into socks as treats for the weasels.

Of course, the socks can get expensive, since the weasels tear the hell out of them as they get their treats; I am reminded of our Border Collie Totoro who used to tear every new treat to shreds the day he got it. It must be a lot of fun for the weasels, too (as well as the bears who also swipe the snacks!). In fact, the time it takes for the weasel to devour the meat from the sock is key, since that means the animal stays still long enough to obtain good footage.

The project has been going on for several years, which means that a lot of socks have been purchased and sacrificed in a costly manner! They need thousands of socks for the project (they go through hundreds every month!), so you can make sure your old or mismatched socks go to a good cause this year by donating them to the project. It’s easy; just send them to:

Sierra Nevada Adaptive Management Project

40799 Elliott Dr.

Oakhurst, CA 93644

This would make an excellent volunteer or science project for children, as well as an easy way for families to do something good with their old socks rather than just pitch them. And you have to admit that the fate of being used as weasel bait is a much more exciting story to share than simply making another sock puppet—which you can always do with the next odd sock you find.