Earl fun, but his place was in the wild

Since most of the leaves have fallen off the trees, it’s easier to watch birds and squirrels in the back yard. Reminded me of the time we had a pet squirrel.
My dad found this baby one on the ground and brought it to us to be nursed back to health. We did such a good job, that in the course of the next year, Earl the Squirrel managed to bite practically every member of the family, even requiring stitches on some.
Allen actually went out and cut a tree that he stuffed into the den where Earl could climb and cavort as squirrels do. Earl’s most favorite game was to climb up on the shelves above the couch and drop old National Geographics on whomsoever happened to be sitting there.
Allen also let Earl have the last taste of coffee from the bottom of his mug.
We soon learned that an over-active animal doesn’t need caffeine.
Earl was a quick learner. At the end of his time out of his cage, when I told him it was time to go back in, he’d grab the collar of my shirt, hold on for dear life with all four of his little claw-like feet and cry like a baby.
And as much fun as it was to raise him, stitch up after him and watch him, it was rather sad to see him look out the bay window to watch the other squirrels roam free.
After one painful episode, it was brought to my attention that a male squirrel was more likely to want to run free in nature, as opposed to having coffee and Zweiback baby toast indoors.
That Saturday, we loaded his cage and food station onto a shelf built around one of the pecan trees and turned him loose, but before I did, I sprayed his tail red with floral dye, so I could keep track of him in the treetops.
He stayed close to home for a while and still begged to be taken, but finally we saw less and less of the red streak in the sky.
We also learned that it borders on cruelty to take a wild animal and try to make it conform to human routines. Earl really needed to know how to navigate branches on a tree instead of in the den.
Anyone who has ever taken in a wild animal, and Heaven only knows how many we have, it’s trial and error as how to feed and shelter them. I will say that Earl was a delight compared to the Great Blue Heron that someone brought us, with an arrow shot right through its neck. I hope the person that did that gets an itch that can’t be scratched in public.
Please think twice before killing wild animals for sport. Learning to hunt for food is one thing. Shooting one of God’s creatures for a sport is another.

Georgie Manuel.
November 30, 2014.