“Squirrely Behavior Lead’s to Orland Park Police, Animal Control Call”
After a long day of running errands and a late lunch, my husband and I were looking forward to some relaxation. I had gone to one of the rooms on the opposite end of the house, when I heard my husband banging on the door and shouting, “What are you doing, get out of here, shoo, go away!” I ran to see what was going on with thoughts racing through my head of a would-be home invader! At first glance, I didn’t see anyone. Worriedly, I asked, “What happened, who was out here?” My husband replied emphatically and with a worried tone in his voice, “It’s a squirrel and look what it did!” It was then that I saw one of my favorite, clay flowerpots, smashed in pieces, the soil from inside it, and the flowers strewn all over the porch! Next, I noticed the “guilty looking” culprit, a young, Eastern Gray Squirrel, clinging to a Halloween-themed blanket that was covering of an old, small chest-of-drawers used for storing various garden tools that is located on the far side of the porch. The young squirrel was hiding on the backside of the chest-of-drawers, much like squirrels do when they are trying to blend into a tree trunk that they scoot up when frightened. It would move down near the base of its new-found hideout, using the decorative blanket to hold onto. Alternately, it would hide in a wound-up electrical cord that had been placed behind the chest, to which my Halloween lights were plugged into. In addition, you could hear the squirrel rustling around and chewing on an old umbrella that it had also knocked down behind the chest in the commotion. Every now and again it would climb to the top of the chest-of-drawers, to peek out, then dive back down, out of sight. My husband and I tried several times more, to bang on the door, use various long objects including a yardstick, a mop handle, and a painter’s pole to gently nudge it out of it’s hiding place and off the porch, but to no avail! It would squeak, run around the porch in an erratic manner, climb the brick wall, or briefly run off the porch as if to finally leave, then run right back behind the chest-of-drawers. By this time, I was getting concerned that this was not normal squirrel behavior and considering that it could be sick and therefore potentially could bite us if we continued our efforts to drive it away. Our local police department has an Animal Control Unit, so I gave a call to the non-emergency number and had to repeat my story twice to the incredulous dispatcher, who asked, “You have a what and where is it?” She said that she would send an officer over to check it out. No doubt, she was probably thinking I was senile or medicated or both and perhaps taking bets in jest, with the other dispatchers that #1. There was no squirrel and that I was hallucinating or #2. If there was a squirrel, it would be long gone by the time an officer arrived.
Meanwhile, I returned to the door to wait and watch for the officer and take photos of the squirrel as “evidence” of its existence. It actually further “incriminated” itself once, by creeping out to sniff the soil and broken flowerpot, then ran right back to its “hideout! The “Animal Control Officer” arrived within five minutes, wearing his mask, and stepped right up to look for the furry, little marauder, who popped its head up for a brief face-to-face appearance, then promptly hid again. My husband, being concerned for the officer’s safety and not wanting to see him get bit, if indeed the squirrel went on the offensive, suggested he get something that would afford him protection. The officer agreed and returned to his vehicle for a large net on a long pole. Officer B (not his full name, to protect his identity) set to work, moving all obstructions or potential other hiding spots for the squirrel and next moved the chest-of-drawers! The crouched squirrel ran right between the officer’s legs and ran circles around the porch. He gently prodded the squirrel off the porch for a moment, but it ran back up again and crouched momentarily under the bench. He prodded it once more and finally, it fled, but only a few feet away into the flower garden nearby. The officer followed the squirrel, who finally took to a full run, down the street and out of sight! We gave profuse thanks to Officer B, asking him if this was “the nuttiest call he’s ever had.” He replied that it ranked among the more unusual, but that actually he had a call earlier in the day from a lady who had a bat in her attic! He was able to capture it with the very same net-on-a-pole approach that he used to coax the squirrel away. He told us that he kept the bat in the net and drove it out of town to a safer location! All’s well that ends well and no harm was done to the animal or humans! *This is a completely true story!
“Squirrely Behavior Lead’s to Orland Park Police, Animal Control Call”
After a long day of running errands and a late lunch, my husband and I were looking forward to some relaxation. I had gone to one of the rooms on the opposite end of the house, when I heard my husband banging on the door and shouting, “What are you doing, get out of here, shoo, go away!” I ran to see what was going on with thoughts racing through my head of a would-be home invader! At first glance, I didn’t see anyone. Worriedly, I asked, “What happened, who was out here?” My husband replied emphatically and with a worried tone in his voice, “It’s a squirrel and look what it did!” It was then that I saw one of my favorite, clay flowerpots, smashed in pieces, the soil from inside it, and the flowers strewn all over the porch! Next, I noticed the “guilty looking” culprit, a young, Eastern Gray Squirrel, clinging to a Halloween-themed blanket that was covering of an old, small chest-of-drawers used for storing various garden tools that is located on the far side of the porch. The young squirrel was hiding on the backside of the chest-of-drawers, much like squirrels do when they are trying to blend into a tree trunk that they scoot up when frightened. It would move down near the base of its new-found hideout, using the decorative blanket to hold onto. Alternately, it would hide in a wound-up electrical cord that had been placed behind the chest, to which my Halloween lights were plugged into. In addition, you could hear the squirrel rustling around and chewing on an old umbrella that it had also knocked down behind the chest in the commotion. Every now and again it would climb to the top of the chest-of-drawers, to peek out, then dive back down, out of sight. My husband and I tried several times more, to bang on the door, use various long objects including a yardstick, a mop handle, and a painter’s pole to gently nudge it out of it’s hiding place and off the porch, but to no avail! It would squeak, run around the porch in an erratic manner, climb the brick wall, or briefly run off the porch as if to finally leave, then run right back behind the chest-of-drawers. By this time, I was getting concerned that this was not normal squirrel behavior and considering that it could be sick and therefore potentially could bite us if we continued our efforts to drive it away. Our local police department has an Animal Control Unit, so I gave a call to the non-emergency number and had to repeat my story twice to the incredulous dispatcher, who asked, “You have a what and where is it?” She said that she would send an officer over to check it out. No doubt, she was probably thinking I was senile or medicated or both and perhaps taking bets in jest, with the other dispatchers that #1. There was no squirrel and that I was hallucinating or #2. If there was a squirrel, it would be long gone by the time an officer arrived.
Meanwhile, I returned to the door to wait and watch for the officer and take photos of the squirrel as “evidence” of its existence. It actually further “incriminated” itself once, by creeping out to sniff the soil and broken flowerpot, then ran right back to its “hideout! The “Animal Control Officer” arrived within five minutes, wearing his mask, and stepped right up to look for the furry, little marauder, who popped its head up for a brief face-to-face appearance, then promptly hid again. My husband, being concerned for the officer’s safety and not wanting to see him get bit, if indeed the squirrel went on the offensive, suggested he get something that would afford him protection. The officer agreed and returned to his vehicle for a large net on a long pole. Officer B (not his full name, to protect his identity) set to work, moving all obstructions or potential other hiding spots for the squirrel and next moved the chest-of-drawers! The crouched squirrel ran right between the officer’s legs and ran circles around the porch. He gently prodded the squirrel off the porch for a moment, but it ran back up again and crouched momentarily under the bench. He prodded it once more and finally, it fled, but only a few feet away into the flower garden nearby. The officer followed the squirrel, who finally took to a full run, down the street and out of sight! We gave profuse thanks to Officer B, asking him if this was “the nuttiest call he’s ever had.” He replied that it ranked among the more unusual, but that actually he had a call earlier in the day from a lady who had a bat in her attic! He was able to capture it with the very same net-on-a-pole approach that he used to coax the squirrel away. He told us that he kept the bat in the net and drove it out of town to a safer location! All’s well that ends well and no harm was done to the animal or humans! *This is a completely true story!