Careful review of the situation requires common sense. Never approach a wild animal unless you are positive there is no danger. Over the years I have accumulated story after story from experiences dealing with nuisance animals. The following is another story where common sense failed and the outcome turned out to be a painful lesson.
While growing up we would visit my Uncle Don and Aunt Jane’s home on the East Side in Warren. I need to give a little background on Uncle Don. Uncle Don is a great guy who would do anything for anyone. The problem: Uncle Don has extremely bad luck when it comes to his hands and fingers. For as long as I can remember he never had all ten digits on his hands. Uncle Don worked in steel plants, most of his life, where there was an inherent danger usually causing injuries to hands and fingers.
His most recent injury was caused a week before his daughters wedding. He was loading a truck with large steel coils when one fell off and rolled towards him. At the last second he managed to push himself out of the way, unfortunately his hands were slightly crushed in the incident. Since his hands were bandaged, his dinner at the wedding had to cut by his wife.
Now that you know about Uncle Don, let talk about animal safety. Uncle Don isn’t a careless man by any means, just un-lucky when it came to his hands. I was told of a story that happened many years ago. Uncle Don went camping up north with some friends and relatives. They where having a fun spending time in the woods hiking, biking and enjoying the fresh air. Uncle Don while hiking came across a squirrel, which appeared to be dead in the trail. He examined it for a while and decided that he would take it back to camp for everyone to see. Uncle Don knelt down then reached out to pick it up. The squirrel regained consciousness just as Uncle Don attempted to grab it by the tail. The squirrel twisted around and then bit down on the tip of one of the two remaining fingers on Uncle Don’s right hand.
In a panic Uncle Don swung his hand, in a whipping motion, trying to get the squirrel to release his finger resulting in the squirrel to clamp down harder. Every attempt to shake the squirrel loose didn’t work. Frantically Uncle Don, not sure what to do, started to slam the squirrel up against a tree trunk; still the determined squirrel would not release its bite. Witnesses in the area say that they saw a person running around in the woods like a madman screaming in pain and begging for someone to help him. Not knowing what else to do, he noticed a stream, he ran to the edge and dunked his hand into the water. Uncle Don was amazed that that squirrel didn’t immediately release its grip. Unfortunately the squirrel drowned and still the squirrel wouldn’t let go. With the animal, now dead, hanging limp off the tip of finger, he decided to go back to the camp.
When the initial laughter subsided, his comrades, realizing this was a serious matter contemplated how to get the varmint off of Uncle Don’s finger. They tried a number of ways but eventually they had to pry the squirrel off of his finger with a pair of pliers.
To this day, Uncle Don tells this story whenever he sees squirrels in the yard; it seems to get funnier every time he tells it. My point in telling this story is that squirrels are wild and unpredictable animals not to be taken for granted. When I hear that people are hand-feeding squirrels in the neighborhood, I think about uncle Don and wonder what it would take for the squirrel to latch onto the hand that feeds it. Moral of the store is to let your common sense dictate your actions and never hand feed wild animals, they have teeth and they can bite; just ask Uncle Don.
While growing up we would visit my Uncle Don and Aunt Jane’s home on the East Side in Warren. I need to give a little background on Uncle Don. Uncle Don is a great guy who would do anything for anyone. The problem: Uncle Don has extremely bad luck when it comes to his hands and fingers. For as long as I can remember he never had all ten digits on his hands. Uncle Don worked in steel plants, most of his life, where there was an inherent danger usually causing injuries to hands and fingers.
His most recent injury was caused a week before his daughters wedding. He was loading a truck with large steel coils when one fell off and rolled towards him. At the last second he managed to push himself out of the way, unfortunately his hands were slightly crushed in the incident. Since his hands were bandaged, his dinner at the wedding had to cut by his wife.
Now that you know about Uncle Don, let talk about animal safety. Uncle Don isn’t a careless man by any means, just un-lucky when it came to his hands. I was told of a story that happened many years ago. Uncle Don went camping up north with some friends and relatives. They where having a fun spending time in the woods hiking, biking and enjoying the fresh air. Uncle Don while hiking came across a squirrel, which appeared to be dead in the trail. He examined it for a while and decided that he would take it back to camp for everyone to see. Uncle Don knelt down then reached out to pick it up. The squirrel regained consciousness just as Uncle Don attempted to grab it by the tail. The squirrel twisted around and then bit down on the tip of one of the two remaining fingers on Uncle Don’s right hand.
In a panic Uncle Don swung his hand, in a whipping motion, trying to get the squirrel to release his finger resulting in the squirrel to clamp down harder. Every attempt to shake the squirrel loose didn’t work. Frantically Uncle Don, not sure what to do, started to slam the squirrel up against a tree trunk; still the determined squirrel would not release its bite. Witnesses in the area say that they saw a person running around in the woods like a madman screaming in pain and begging for someone to help him. Not knowing what else to do, he noticed a stream, he ran to the edge and dunked his hand into the water. Uncle Don was amazed that that squirrel didn’t immediately release its grip. Unfortunately the squirrel drowned and still the squirrel wouldn’t let go. With the animal, now dead, hanging limp off the tip of finger, he decided to go back to the camp.
When the initial laughter subsided, his comrades, realizing this was a serious matter contemplated how to get the varmint off of Uncle Don’s finger. They tried a number of ways but eventually they had to pry the squirrel off of his finger with a pair of pliers.
To this day, Uncle Don tells this story whenever he sees squirrels in the yard; it seems to get funnier every time he tells it. My point in telling this story is that squirrels are wild and unpredictable animals not to be taken for granted. When I hear that people are hand-feeding squirrels in the neighborhood, I think about uncle Don and wonder what it would take for the squirrel to latch onto the hand that feeds it. Moral of the store is to let your common sense dictate your actions and never hand feed wild animals, they have teeth and they can bite; just ask Uncle Don.
If you like reading my stories, pass them onto a friend....
To Subscribe to Our Quarterly Newsletter goto http://www.trapperron.blogspot.com/.
Good Luck,Trapper Ron
Humane Animal Removal & Relocation Services.
http://www.trapperron.com/
Good Luck,Trapper Ron
Humane Animal Removal & Relocation Services.
http://www.trapperron.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment