Rampaging squirrel hurts people at retirement home

WIS TV ^ | 04 November 2016 | WKMG

[Dawn53Fl]

Our patient female Weim had a formula for catching a squirrel. Of course she would point once she saw a squirrel, and then she would freeze. Then move forward very, very slowly, one paw at a time. Once she got close enough to make a dash, but not to scare of the squirrel, she would just freeze and wait. When the squirrel had wandered far enough from the nearest tree, she would dart, making a beeline for the trail the squirrel would take to get back to the tree...she basically ambushed them, cutting off their way of escape. She did it the same everytime.

Our male Weims would sometimes try to mimic her behavior, but they didn’t have the patience, or the savvy. If a squirrel was up a tree in our yard, she would sit at the base of the tree for literally hours, if we had let her. Of course the squirrel was having fun, running down the bark, just out of reach of her, and chattering at her all the time.

[Bigg Red]

Okay, makes sense. Thanks.

[Ditter]

I heard this on the radio today and they said they had thrown the squirrel out! That is the last thing they should have done! They should have gotten the people out and trapped the squirrel so it could be tested for rabies. Now all of those people who were bitten will have to take rabies shots, which I have heard is terrible!

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

See post 6. Though...I’d be more inclined to a stealthier .177 pellet round.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

I have a squirrel issue. I have cured the squirrel issue without using ballistics. Simply a more aggressive deterrence initiative. Passive defenses did not work. I had to get somewhat more aggressive and it worked very well.

[M Kehoe]

Good morning.

Okay, I’m listening.

5.56mm

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Okay, I’m listening.

Ok...here goes.

A ~30 foot vinyl covered 1/8" cable strung between two trees. On this cable are 8 two liter plastic bottles...caps and bottom drilled for cable to pass. This allows them to spin freely so the squirrels can get no purchase while on them and they fall to the ground...a good 20 foot drop.

At each end about 4 feet from each tree is a roundish baffle of plastic. Old compartmented snack trays. Attached to these towards the trees is an aluminum concave baffle/shield. Think of Captain America's shield only about half the size. These assemblies are anchored to the end bottle on each end. There is another tray baffle after the first bottle. The edges of the aluminum have been cut away in a triangular sawtooth pattern all the way around. Each "tooth" is about 2 inches high. The concave surface faces the tree. Hanging down from each of these shields is a 18" x 30" aluminum oven liner painted olive drab so as not to spook the birds.

On the cable between the trees and these shields is an arrangement of the triangular pieces cut from the shields...roughly 30ga aluminum. Barely visible in the picture below on the right side. They are spaced about one inch apart and are fixed to the cable so they do not move or spin.

This cable is fed through a screw eye on one end to allow the assembly to be lowered and raised after the bird feeders have been refilled. Between each bottle is a carabiner that allows attachment of the bird feeders.

Squirrels have tried to jump from the trees to the feeders but the oven liners block them in mid-flight.

They have tried to traverse the cable to get closer to the feeders but the triangular (and sharpened) aluminum "teeth" do not make for an easy or painless route for the squirrels.

I have observed their many attempts to defeat this arrangement but after about 2 weeks of trying, they have given up.

This defense was arrived at after about 2 months of trial and error. The toothed aluminum baffles and the aluminum "teeth" on the ends of the cable were the last addition. I went this route because passive defenses were failing. The aggressive part (aluminum teeth) gave them a good incentive to piss off and go try the neighbor's yard.

It looks like Rube Goldberg invented it but it is 100% effective. My wife loves her birds and hates squirrels. Happy wife, happy life. Plus the engineer in me accepted the challenge and won.

[M Kehoe]

I have only one word: Brilliant!

5.56mm

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

I know which squirrel it was, too!

DANG!

[Hot Tabasco]

have about zero chance of catching and biting a squirrel.

And if by chance the squirrel is bitten, it will likely be the meal..........

[Hot Tabasco]

So I had his bags squeezed and kept Pepe as a pet.

What??????

[Rusty0604]

Yep, skunks make good pets. I caught him years ago but since then some places have made it illegal to have their bags squeezed. I had a pet armadillo too. Didn’t have to have any procedures done on him. His name was Leroy.