Falling Squirrels

On my way back from Jiu Jitsu practice today, I witnessed a squirrel fall from a tree. A very tall tree. It fell right in front of my car and I had to swerve out of the way. Luckily, the squirrel was still alive and there were no other cars around. The road is very woodsy and not traveled very frequently.

My heart broke. The squirrel was just laying in the road, seemingly dead, but still breathing. I have seen this happen before. The fall usually just stuns the squirrel and after a few moments, it hobbles away only to regain its bearings. This squirrel didn’t hobble. It just lay there with a small spot of blood near its mouth.

I stopped my car and put it in park. I approached the squirrel to see what the deal was. Since he was alive, I decided to pick up a small stick to move him of the road. I put the stick under him and tried to move him. He wasn’t having it. He clung to the ground for dear life. I decided that I needed a larger stick, so I found one and tried again. I pushed the stick under him and lifted. As I did this, he grabbed hold of the stick. I walked him to the side of the road and placed him on a nearby stone wall. He just sat there very much in shock.

I got in the car and continued on my way.

After arriving at the house and waiting a few minutes, I thought I should take our dog for a walk down to see if the squirrel was still sitting on the rock wall. I was hoping that he wasn’t. I put the leash on the dog and took the walk. We made it to the stone wall and I was very relieved to find no squirrel. I am assuming he regained full consciousness and made his way into the woods. I hope he’s okay.

Up here at the homestead, we dislike squirrels. Not literally, but they do get really annoying around our bird feeders. While they are annoying, we would never wish any harm upon them and I feel just terrible when I see them hit on the road. I do what I can when I can.

Okay, enough of that. Let’s lighten this post up a bit. Want to see a funny video of squirrels getting flung off a bird feeder? Thought so. Just make sure you forward to about three quarters of the way through to get to the action.