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The
Squirrel,
a true story
by Emily Popp
Age 13
Well, a few
weeks ago I noticed a gray squirrel at our bird feeder who had
been acting a little strange. When I looked closer with my
binoculars, I saw that there was a good amount of blood on its
neck. The squirrel's fur was ruffled, and it was always being
chased by crows.
I just pretty
much left it alone, until one day it seemed a little
worse.
So I borrowed a wire
live-trap, put it under the bird feeder, and baited it
with peanut butter on bread. I saw the
squirrel for only one day after that, then he disappeared. I
feared he might have died.
There were five other
squirrels that visited the feeder on a regular
basis, and I caught every single one of
them except the one I needed to
catch!
Once, at 2:30 in the
morning, there was a knock at our door. It was our neighbor. She
said she had called the police because there was a skunk in the
trap. The police said "Hey lady, get somebody else for the job.
We're not messing around with no angry skunk!" That's why she came
to get me . . .
So I carefully got
the skunk out of the trap, and then started to go
back up to the house. I was just
getting to sleep again, when there was
another knock on the door! Guess who: our
neighbor again. She locked her keys in the house! I had to climb
up the porch railing into a bush and open the screen. The whole
process took about 15 minutes, and on the way in I got a bad cut
on my ankle.
About two weeks, five
more squirrels, and two more skunks later, we
finally got the right squirrel.
But the Animal Charity wildlife department
was closed for three days! So I had to feed
this frantic squirrel bird seed
and water through the wire cage. It was
constantly squeaking and yelping very loudly, which got a few more
of our neighbors angry.
When we brought it to
Animal Charity, it was totally petrified. All the
dogs came over to investigate our
little captive. The lady came out to get him and asked if we just
wanted to drop him off and return for the cage, or we could stay
and wait. We waited. And waited. And waited. Every once in a while
the lady would run past us, clutching a pair of long leather
gloves or some other veterinary equipment.
After about 45
minutes she returned, exhausted, with the squirrel in his cage.
She explained that he would not take the gas or a shot to put him
under. The squirrel held his breath! The vet had tried a different
approach, of just holding him down to remove whatever was choking
him. Finally it was over with, the offending 'thing' was
removed.
It turns out that the
'thing' was a plastic six-pack ring from pop cans.
The squirrel had chewed off all of the
plastic except the thin piece that he could not reach. It was
growing deeply into his skin. The plastic had to be surgically
removed! The vet said he could have died within a few
weeks.
We still see
'Cutthroat', as we named him, every once-in-a-while.
The
deep cut is now merely a
scar. He still eats at the same bird feeder, with
all his other squirrel
friends.
I think this is
a good example of why people should not litter. It causes innocent
animals a lot of pain and suffering over just a little piece of
plastic.
Emily
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