Squirrel!

[skylarker]

We rescued a squirrel Wednesday night on the job. It had been trapped in the enclosed area of the stairwell in the south ramp since sometime Tuesday. While I was doing the driving patrol the next evening a couple people came up to me to report sightings. One told me the squirrel had gotten as far as the skyway lobby that morning, where it ran

Comments

[pameladean]

I commend your cool-headedness when the squirrel ran up your leg. We once had a squirrel in the house that was quite happy to be hiding behind the books on a high shelf. When I finally got out the vacuum cleaner in the hopes that the noise would frighten it out the invitingly open window, it was merely annoyed and, leaping down from the shelf in a rain of books, ran right at the source of the annoyance -- us -- chittering furiously. Raphael and I each had a broom and, of course, outweighed the squirrel by a lot, but we both yelled "Ack!" and retreated. The squirrel eventually had to be carefully swept onto the windowsill, where it cussed us out for several minutes before finally leaving.

P.

[skylarker]

They have a lot of gumption for such small creatures.

Fortunately, I had previous experience in taming them (hold still and offer food) to the point where I'd gotten one to sit on my knee and take offerings, so I wasn't freaked out by close contact of the squirrel kind. Luckily I wasn't thinking about those teeth. :)

[pameladean]

I've had some close interactions with squirrels in the back yard, too. But none of them had ever run right at me using language.

And yes, their boldness is way out of line with their size. The tiny red ones are even more pugnacious than the gray, in my experience.

P.

[skylarker]

This one wasn't being aggressive - I'd have reacted differently if it hadn't seemed so very frightened.

One of the cats got into a fight with a squirrel once and was bitten by those nasty long squirrel teeth - it left a huge abscessed wound.

[dreamshark]

Squirrels are actually very intelligent, but it seems that their native ingenuity is blown to hell by their overly excitable temperament.

We have squirrels that are unstoppable at finding their way into our attic no matter how many layers of squirrel-repellent material roofers and carpenters put in their way. Once there, they sometimes run down the stairs and find their way unerringly into the den (where cookies and crackers and other party supplies are stored). So yeah, they're smart and they're persistent. But when we find them in the house and try to shoo them out the window, they turn into furry balls of panic and start rebounding off the walls instead of JUMPING OUT THE FRICKING OPEN WINDOW.

[skylarker]

Hee. That's exactly what was going on here. I think my co-workers may have been a bit panicked too - and the squirrel would have eventually calmed down and found its way out if we hadn't been chasing it around.

[don_fitch]

Awww.... But I find that a bit surprising from the northern mid-west, where squirrels have been pests for years. Here in my part of southern California, where I saw the first ones three years ago that kindly attitude would be more expectable. But then, at least two of my neighbors yell "Kill! Kill!" when they see a 'possum, which I think are less obnoxious than squirrels, so meh.

[skylarker]

There are plenty of people around here who just consider them pests, but live-traps are the preferred option for getting rid of them.

[parsleigh]

Good for you!