Squirrel Rescue

So.  The great (engineered) escape of the squirrel.  I don't know how or why the dumb thing climbed up the 4+ feet of glossy-slippery insulated stovepipe that extends above the 2-story roof of the house (also slippery thanks to the zinc shingles), but climb it he did.  And then tried committing harakiri (hary-cary) by taking a nose dive down it.  (Curiosity killed the . . . squirrel?)

What now, though?  Here was a squirrel, at the bottom of a stovepipe (see below), in a wood stove, in the house.  What to do?

As seen in the videos I posted, the cats weren't too interested in doing their job.  And, truth be told, I'd have felt a little bad for the guy (gal?) if he'd fallen down two stories in a 6" dark shaft only to be eaten rather ignominiously by a cat!  Beyond that, though, I didn't know what other options there were . . . than leaving the door open to the stove so that he could escape.  But then, I'd have a bigger problem:  a live squirrel in the house.


It finally dawned on me that I could try trapping the critter in a live trap.  Knowing s/he wouldn't move around much during the day while the dogs and cats would show too much interest at the open door (see Exhibit A below), I closed the stovepipe's damper and the front door, thereby "trapping" him in the stove for the afternoon.

Obviously, s/he suffered no hardships and simply curled up for a long winter's nap!  (When Lexie the dog had been here at Christmastime, her blanket was shedding, and I tossed all the wool leavings into the stove.  Little did I know that a squirrel would be happy as a clam to curl up and take a snooze in them!)

Can you spot the squirrel, snoozing away?!

When I went to bed last night, I baited a live trap with peanut butter (see Exhibit B below) and set the trap in the open door of the stove.  Then I went to bed.

Maisy complained and wanted to get up and go out at some un-gawdly hour, and when I let the dogs back in, Tucker showed a bit of interest in the trap.  I'd figured that the squirrel hadn't yet exited the stove / entered the trap 'cause I knew it would set off a series of frenzied yelps from the dogs.  But, when I went to shoo Tucker away from the peanut buttered trap . . . lo & behold, our little friend was already inside it!  In my sleepy state, I remembered to snap a picture for you, then I set the trap out the back door, opened it up, and watched the little guy scamper away.

I HOPE s/he's learned a lesson!  Dumb little adventurer.  ;)