Wednesday, January 20, 2010

goodbye little cute

there was a tiny squirrel in the street just in front of my driveway when i pulled up this afternoon. he/she seemed hurt, not dead, as is often the case around here. dead. i told fiona to go in the house and i would be in in a minute. i walked down the stone steps to the street and saw that he/she was just sitting there, breathing heavy. he/she was tiny, and very....very....cute.
i thought, he/she could have either fallen out of the 4million story oak tree that is rooted in our yard but canopies the street where he/she lay or he/she was hit by a car and survived, sort of.
this is not him/her..i could not take a picture of a man/woman down.

i did what any sappy animal lover would do...i scooped him/her up with a broom and a shovel and i carried him/her up the hill to my yard and placed him/her under a bush. have i mentioned how tiny? open your palm and lay your other fist in it. fist=squirrel. i couldn't see any "boo boo's", only a little bit of blood behind the eye. i gave water. i spoke in whispers, "it's ok it's ok".
after several hours of watching the poor thing run around in circles at nothing, for nothing and then curl up in a ball and wrap it's tail around it's face, exhausted and panting itself into sleep, i thought...finally it has succumbed. then i would take a peek and he/she would be running around in circles again. i googled: "hurt squirrel running in circles". head injury and cruel and suffering and euthanize were the words that came back to me.


let me just say thank jesus for superhero husbands because when the tears started to flow he knew what needed to be done and he knew i wasn't the one to do it. i couldn't have for starters which means that poor baby could have suffered for hours. or days for fucksake! supermike took a shovel and severed it's head from it's body. he promises it was quick, probably not painless but certainly the pain was tremendously brief, right? it had to be done though. i would have been up all night long, walking outside to see if he/she was still alive. no way. it had to be done. so he did it. apart from the overwhelming feeling of- first haiti and now this?!?! i did feel better. he/she was gone, but not in pain anymore. no more suffering. for any of us, ok?

34 comments:

boops said...

oh man :(

The Famous Home said...

I'm so glad there are people like you in you in the world who stop and take the time to help a fallen animal. Thank you! Just remember that there was nothing more you could do to help poor little guy/girl.

Kelly@TearingUpHouses said...

oh, that sucks. big hug. big, big, big hug. you did the right thing.

my (now) husband and i saw a baby squirrel roaming around lost a while back (when we first met) when we were taking a walk. he followed us for a little while, and i wanted to bring him home.

ever since then, andrew calls me "squirrel"...

kelly

Anonymous said...

i found an injured squirrel in my yard a couple of years ago. i put him in a shoebox and took it to the all nite vet. my husband swears they put him to sleep before i could make it out of the parking lot. i'm certain he was immediately airlifted to the vet school nearby.

Duel Living said...

This has happened to me so many times! We have two cats that are always bringing home lil' things. When we lived in Vermont...I was constantly driving animals to rescue volunteers...they would rehabilitate hurt animals. Sometimes these animals were so little...I couldn't even tell what they were...baby bunnies...so young...no fur. It broke my heart. I have begged my husband to end the lives of the "hangers on". I can't stand to watch the suffering...but I just can't do it. I know exactly how you felt today.

Emily said...

Poor thing! This is sad that he/she was hurt but I am the same way I look for ailing animals to help and I would have done the same thing (virtual high five).

Anonymous said...

Im in shock. Alarmed. Queasy? I was so not expecting that ending. Expecting to hear that you took him to the vet and he is now living on your kitchen window and calls you mamma.

OUCH. I feel for you honey. Thats rough.

Unknown said...

Agreed, it needed to be done and he's in a better place but JEEZUZ!!!!!!! Did ya have to describe the way he went?!! I need a drink.....

M said...

how sad! poor little thing.

Simply Mel {Reverie} said...

damn, this sucks for everyone. Thank goodness for Supermike....he always saves the day and makes life a little bit less painful.

feel that? It's a big hug for you.

micah said...

Awww, so sorry :( I think you/supermike did the right thing. still sucks though.

V said...

Oh god, this happened to us, too. The squirrel fell out of the tree and like, broke its legs and couldn't move but was still alive and freaking the hell out. He was laying there forever until my husband put him out of his misery. So sad.

MFAMB said...

kelly aka "squirrel"- cutest story award to you.

i thought about taking it to the vet but they would have put it to sleep too right? i mean, the googling i did said that with a head injury there is little they can do for a squirrel. i just wanted the end to be as quick as possible. i didn't want to debate with mike on his method of murder. my only request was "do it right the first time!"

Sharon Brown said...

OK, here we go...
We have been remodeling a house for a while now that had been unoccupied for a year. First we had to get rid of a lot of mice that had taken up residency in the attic. In mid-December one morning I heard a really noisy scratching sound from the cabinet beside our refrigerator. Our refrigerator is built in between two sets of cabinets. I am thinking there is one gigantic mouse in that cabinet to be scratching so loud. Long story short, the carpenter that worked for me pulled out the refrigerator and out comes a baby squirrel. National Lampoons Christmas Vacation proceeded to take place in our house. First we ran the baby squirrel outside, then it ran back inside, then it jumped into a return air vent that had the cover off and it was gone. A few days pass. Scratching starts again. The carpenter & I cannot figure out how the creature(s) is/are getting behind/beside the refrigerator in the first place. There was no hole. It is a huge mystery and I am too freaked out to think of the possibilities after doing some Googling of where squirrels can build nests in houses. The carpenter and I pull out the refrigerator again. This time I have called in my black lab named Dolly to assist in the chase of this baby squirrel. I am carrying around a clothes rod from the hall closet. The carpenter asks me what I am going to do with that thing. I said it just made me feel empowered. Baby squirrel comes out. I tell Dolly to get it. National Lampoons Christmas Vacation II starts. Dolly would catch the squirrel but not bite it b/c she is trained to soft mouth ducks she retrieves, then I guess the squirrel would bite Dolly and she would drop it. This happens over and over again. I'm squealing. Get the picture? At one point the baby squirrel runs into a spare bedroom that was packed with furniture I was storing. Nightmare. Then it disappeared for a while and jumped out of a tall porcelain vase I have on the floor. Heart attack. We finally get it outside. The carpenter asks what I want him to do. I am yelling for him to kill it!! The carpenter takes the clothes rod and beats the poor squirrel flat as a pancake. Whew. Bye-bye freaky baby squirrel. We leave for a week at Christmas. Come home. Hear my husband (also named Mike, but isn't super only normal) yell from upstairs. He has checked the mousetrap in the attic and caught in the mousetrap is yet another baby squirrel.

It is now mid-January and thank goodness, no more baby squirrels in the house. When I see pictures like you posted of baby squirrels all I can see in my mind are clothes rod flattened baby squirrels or mouse-trap caught baby squirrels. Now I can include shovel beheaded baby squirrels in my mental images.

boops said...

well, since we're sharing...
when i was about 5, a bird's nest fell out of a tree in our yard, and there were 3 little baby birds, beaks up, chirping for some food. we tried to put it back in the tree so the mom could come to take care of them but she was no where to be found. so my mother and i took care of the babies the best we could. they all died. it was beside myself and could not be consoled. my mother did not know what to do with me. i kept saying "it's not fair, they never had a chance!" or something to that effect so she built little coffins for the baby birds and we had a burial service with crucifixes for headstones made of popsicle sticks. they are buried under the family home's front porch, and i still think of them.

AppleTree said...

whoa. trauma and drama. you need some wine. so do I.

Fargerike Dagny said...

Oh no, I'm sorry :( I remember my mom hit a squirrel once when we were out driving (I was about 10), and she started crying, it was horrible! Both seing the little dead squirrel and my mom bawling over it...

Squirrels are super cute. In London in Hyde Park, there's tons of squirrels and they're very used to having people around. We stopped and "talked" to a little group, and one little guy jumped on my leg! He was extraordinary cute, but at the same time, I slightly panicked, totally didn't expect it. And there was of course a group of japanese tourists there, catching it all on tape... Lol..

Leah said...

i really, really feel your pain! i say a little prayer every time i pass a dead animal that has been left in the road (which is too many!). it always reminds me there is so much sadness in the world & i have to make it a point to remember the good stuff!

sarah said...

sadness.

Anonymous said...

I found a hurt squirrel at the park. Went home to get a shoebox. Used a shovel to get it in there. Drove it to the Boston Animal Shelter. They didn't even look at it, just said "OK, we'll euthanize it".

I don't know why I thought they would rehab a hurt squirrel...

Kara said...

that makes me so sad. :(

Erin said...

[sob]

nelya said...

Sniff, sob, sniff. Poor baby squirrel. Poor you.

G said...

omg
this is the worst thing i ever read
you just posted about a cute tiny squirrel and severing its head.

i'm dying and crying and dying.

Marcie said...

So sad. Trying not to cry at work. I would totally do the same thing.

On another note: We have an office kitty who comes by almost every day for the tuna I like to feed him. My office window looks out to the parking lot where he likes to hang out. There are also tons of woods and trees around. I caught glimpse of two fat birds just hanging out on the ground. I laugh at how fat they are and I notice the kitty getting closer and closer to them. Thinking of the carnage about to take place, I run outside and try to shoo the birds away. They take their sweet little time walking away but at least I didn't have to witness anything gruesome like that! We've seen the kitty stalking and running around with animals hanging out of his mouth.

Also, my outside cat once had a baby bunny in it's mouth while we were all outside and my dad said I screamed and cried hysterically. He says the bunny was screaming too. I think he got it out of the cat's mouth in time. But it was close!

anita said...

so so sad.
and that third picture? -- that's about the cutest thing i've ever seen.

LindsB said...

is it sick that my first reaction is pure hysterical laughter- I dont know you or supermike but the thought of having to go through that just made me laugh out loud.

now i feel bad for the squirrel and you- poor things

The Blasphemous Fiendess said...

Made me cry. thank you Super Mike; we need guys like you. Jennie, you did the right thing.
xo

Jessica said...

good GOD man! I don't even like hitting butterflies with my car...I almost puked when I read this. I don't think my husband could do the beheading of a baby squirrel...that takes mega balls of steel.

Mango Gal said...

Oh my goodness! I was sitting here at my desk biting my nails reading this post in the hopes that this poor little squirrel was ok. You did the right thing. Poor squirrel.

The Townhouselady said...

You're good people.

Lauren said...

oh nooooo.. :( i once saw a squirrel get hit by a car in front of me & balled like a baby but this was much worse. a little baby squirrel? oh my goodness too cute & so sad.

i'm glad you took care of him & your husband's the man.

xoxo

Christina said...

I once had a mouse in my house that the cats had stalked but not caught. I got it under a box and then didn't know what the hell to do with it. Called building manager because I couldn't deal, and when we tried to get it into the box and out of the house it escaped. I had to use a glue trap to get it. And when it was on the trap I had a hysterical fit because it was suffering and I couldn't work up the balls to kill it. I can't even kill spiders...anyway, boyfriend came over in the morning and did...something...with it. I was grateful, and I felt awful, too. Thank you for trying...that's a hard situation.

Keri said...

that... was the saddest thing I've ever heard. I totally know how you feel, I've been in that kind of situation numerous times growing up with baby birds and hairless baby mice (3). air hug.