Monday, March 26, 2012

Small creature rescue

Saturday morning I heard what sounded like a bird stuck in my roof gutter: lots of chirping and scratching against metal.  When I went closer to the sound, I found it was coming from downstairs.  I opened the front door and saw a neighborhood cat trying to get something out from the spout of the rain gutter.  Once the cat saw me, it took off running.  The bird was still too scared to come out of the pipe.  I crouched down on the walkway and peeked inside the pipe.  I expected to find a baby bird, but instead I saw a bushy tail. I don't mess with squirrels.  Anything that scales trees that easily has claws I would like to keep a healthy distance from, especially if the squirrel is rabid.  At this point, my solution was let my paranoia win out for a while and wait for the squirrel to leave the gutter on its own.  It was quite clear that it could not climb up the vertical part of the pipe.

I tried to ignore it, but then I thought, "What if the cat comes back?"  This changed my plan from wait-and-see to scare-it-out-with-loud-noises by tapping and scratching on the pipe at the top to try and scare it out the opening.  All I did was terrify the poor creature further.  The scare tactics only made the squirrel more resolute to stay put.

Then I got the brilliant notion that I could force it out with a flood.  While I had no way of reaching the top of the gutter, there were small openings where the pipes pieces were joined together.  I poured a pitcher of water into the front openings which served very well in making the squirrel move around a lot, but it was still able to stay inside.  Now the poor critter was all wet so I could not let it stay in there and freeze.  Since a little bit of water was not a deterrent, maybe a lot of water would be.  I hooked up the sprayer to the hose and turned it on.  I was humane and pointed the water spray at the floor of the gutter, not directly at the squirrel.  My plan was to create a big enough gush to make a water slide that would force the squirrel out of the pipe.  This came very close to working.  The tail would come out of the pipe, but those claws held their ground.

I knew the gushing water must have scared the tiny critter so now it was really not coming out for a while.  I gave up on forcing it out.  Since it was not going anywhere, I felt the need to offer sunflower seeds while it cowered in fear all day.  I put a few on the edge of the gutter and a big pile on the ground in front of it.

I went inside and waited.  Having been obsessed with this squirrel all morning, my mind could not let it go.  I remembered my pleather gloves that I used in winter.  They were likely to be thick enough to protect me from teeth and at least minimize claw damage.  Now with bolstered courage and a new plan, I was ready to try again.  At first, my plan involved scaring the squirrel just right so that it would fall to the opening and either fall out or run away with its tail facing me when I grabbed for it.  It never fell out, and it darted back in before I could nab the tail.  Fortunately, the pipe was only barely big enough for my hand so that the squirrel could not get past my glove to bite or scratch me.  I finally just reached in and felt around until I found the tail.  Then I dragged it out only to find out that it was not a squirrel at all.

I marveled for an extended moment as I held by the tail the chipmunk that I had rescued from my rain gutter.  Awwwwww!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  All fear melted into sweet adoration of this incredibly cute chipmunk.  I set him down on my other hand and he dashed off.  I probably won't see that little guy around again, but I do hope to see more chipmunks in my neighborhood.  They are much more rare than squirrels around here.  And tons cuter!  I was glad I could rescue the poor guy from both the cat and the rain gutter.

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