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Squirrel Causes Mayhem, Ambulance Struck in Hit and Run, and More (Turned on TV, Faucet)
Trib Local ^ | 10/18/2010 | Victoria Pirece

Posted on 10/20/2010 7:13:22 PM PDT by nickcarraway

A resident in the 400 block South Madison Avenue returned home about 1:30 p.m. Oct. 14 after a few days away to find a faucet running, the television on and a squirrel running around inside his home. The man lives alone and no one else has a key.

Police investigated and determined that the squirrel, which had gotten inside the house somehow, had been running around on a counter and knocked a bottle of dishwashing soap over, which turned the faucet on. In addition, the squirrel apparently stepped on the television remote on the counter turning on the TV.

“The squirrel messed up the place a little bit also,” according to the police report.


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; Pets/Animals; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: illinois; rampage; squirrel; tv

1 posted on 10/20/2010 7:13:26 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: Salamander

Squirrels are evolving quickly.


2 posted on 10/20/2010 7:14:35 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway
I had a squirrel get into the house. Fortunately I was home at the time. The dog, my oldest daughter, and myself we able to “convince” it to leave.

Evil, evil creatures.

3 posted on 10/20/2010 7:17:49 PM PDT by MAexile (Bats left, votes right)
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To: nickcarraway
I'm a squirrel. I turn on faucets and TVs...
4 posted on 10/20/2010 7:19:52 PM PDT by Dahoser (Separation of church and state? No, we need separation of media and state.)
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To: nickcarraway

From another FReeper whose name escapes me...

A Squirrel Story

I never dreamed slowly cruising on my motorcycle through a residential neighborhood could be so incredibly dangerous! Little did I suspect ...

I was on Brice Street - a very nice neighborhood with perfect lawns and slow traffic. As I passed an oncoming car, a brown furry missile shot out from under it and tumbled to a stop immediately in front of me. It was a squirrel, and must have been trying to run across the road when it encountered the car. I really was not going very fast, but there was no time to brake or avoid it - it was that close. I hate to run over animals, and I really hate it on a motorcycle, but a squirrel should pose no danger to me. I barely had time to brace for the impact.

Animal lovers, never fear. Squirrels, I discovered, can take care of themselves!

Inches before impact, the squirrel flipped to his feet. He was standing on his hind legs and facing my oncoming Valkyrie with steadfast resolve in his little beady eyes. His mouth opened, and at the last possible second, he screamed and leapt!

I am pretty sure the scream was squirrel for, “Bonzai!” or maybe, “Die you gravy-sucking, heathen scum!” The leap was nothing short of spectacular ...as he shot straight up, flew over my windshield, and impacted me squarely in the chest.

Instantly, he set upon me. If I did not know better, I would have sworn he brought 20 of his little buddies along for the attack. Snarling, hissing, and tearing at my clothes, he was a frenzy of activity. As I was dressed only in a light t-shirt, summer riding gloves, and jeans this was a bit of a cause for concern. This furry little tornado was doing some damage!

Picture a large man on a huge black and chrome cruiser, dressed in jeans, a t-shirt, and leather gloves, puttering at maybe 25 mph down a quiet residential street, and in the fight of his life with a squirrel. And losing...

I grabbed for him with my left hand. After a few misses, I finally managed to snag his tail. With all my strength, I flung the evil rodent off to the left of the bike, almost running into the right curb as I recoiled from the throw. That should have done it. The matter should have ended right there. It really should have. The squirrel could have sailed into one of the pristinely kept yards and gone on about his business, and I could have headed home. No one would have been the wiser.

But this was no ordinary squirrel. This was not even an ordinary pissed-off squirrel. This was an EVIL MUTANT ATTACK SQUIRREL OF DEATH ! Somehow he caught my gloved finger with one of his little hands and, with the force of the throw, swung around and with a resounding thump and an amazing impact, he landed squarely on my back and resumed his rather anti-social and extremely distracting activities.

He also managed to take my left glove with him! The situation was not improved. Not improved at all. His attacks were continuing, and now I could not reach him.

I was startled to say the least. The combination of the force of the throw, only having one hand (the throttle hand) on the handlebars, and my jerking back unfortunately put a healthy twist through my right hand and into the throttle. A healthy twist on the throttle of a Valkyrie can only have one result. Torque. This is what the Valkyrie is made for, and she is very, very good at it. The engine roared and the front wheel left the pavement. The squirrel screamed in anger. The Valkyrie screamed in ecstasy. I screamed in ... well ... I just plain screamed.

Now picture a large man on a huge black and chrome cruiser, dressed in jeans, a slightly squirrel-torn-t-shirt, wearing only one leather glove, and roaring at maybe 50 mph and rapidly accelerating down a quiet residential street on one wheel and with a demonic squirrel on his back. The man and the squirrel are both screaming bloody murder. With the sudden acceleration I was forced to put my other hand back on the handlebars and try to get control of the bike.

This was leaving the mutant squirrel to his own devices, but I really did not want to crash into somebody’s tree, house, or parked car. Also, I had not yet figured out how to release the throttle .... my brain was just simply overloaded.

I did manage to mash the back brake, but it had little effect against the massive power of the big cruiser. About this time the squirrel decided that I was not paying sufficient attention to this very serious battle (maybe he is an evil mutant NAZI attack squirrel of death), and he came around my neck and got INSIDE my full-face helmet with me. As the faceplate closed partway, he began hissing in my face. I am quite sure my screaming changed intensity. It had little effect on the squirrel, however.

The RPMs on The Dragon maxed out (since I was not bothering with shifting at the moment) so her front end started to drop. Now picture a large man on a huge black and chrome cruiser, dressed in jeans, a very raggedly-torn t-shirt, wearing only one leather glove, roaring at probably 80 mph, still on one wheel, with a large puffy squirrel’s tail sticking out of the mostly closed full-face helmet.

By now the screams are probably getting a little hoarse.

Finally I got the upper hand ... I managed to grab his tail again, pulled him out of my helmet, and slung him to the left as hard as I could. This time it worked ... sort-of. Spectacularly sort-of ... so to speak.

Picture a new scene. You are a cop. You and your partner have pulled off on a quiet residential street and parked with your windows down to do some paperwork. Suddenly a large man on a huge black and chrome cruiser, dressed in jeans, a torn t-shirt flapping in the breeze, and wearing only one leather glove, moving at probably 80 mph on one wheel, and screaming bloody murder roars by and with all his strength throws a live squirrel grenade directly into your police car.

I heard screams. They weren’t mine... I managed to get the big motorcycle under control and dropped the front wheel to the ground. I then used maximum braking and skidded to a stop in a cloud of tire smoke at the stop sign of a busy cross street. I would have returned to fess up (and to get my glove back). I really would have. Really. Except for two things.

First, the cops did not seem interested or the slightest bit concerned about me at the moment. When I looked back, the doors on both sides of the patrol car were flung wide open. The cop from the passenger side was on his back, doing a crab walk into somebody’s front yard, quickly moving away from the car. The cop who had been in the driver’s seat was standing in the street and was aiming a riot shotgun at his own police car.

So the cops were not interested in me. They often insist to “let the professionals handle it” anyway. That was one thing. The other? Well, I could clearly see shredded and flying pieces of foam and upholstery from the back seat. But I could also swear I saw the squirrel in the back window, shaking his little fist at me, shooting me the finger ... That is one dangerous squirrel. And now he has a patrol car. A somewhat shredded patrol car ... but it was all his.

I took a deep breath, turned on my turn-signal, made a gentle right turn off of Brice Street, and sedately left the neighborhood. I decided it was best to just buy myself a new pair of gloves. And some Band-Aids.


5 posted on 10/20/2010 7:20:35 PM PDT by Grizzled Bear (Does not play well with others)
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To: Dahoser

What companies offer squirrel rampage insurance?


6 posted on 10/20/2010 7:20:47 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: MAexile
Here's an "in town" answer that's relatively safe (.22 cal air-shotgun):

It gets their attention.

7 posted on 10/20/2010 7:25:11 PM PDT by 50cal Smokepole (Effective gun control involves effective recoil management)
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To: nickcarraway

“The squirrel messed up the place a little bit also,”

He was lucky that Bullwinkle didn’t join him!


8 posted on 10/20/2010 7:27:07 PM PDT by Batman11 (Sarah Palin: "Illegal immigrants are called illegal for a reason!")
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To: nickcarraway
Several years ago at work I had set up rat glue boards to check them coming from a nearby property...I caught a cute little squirrel who proceeded to turn into Godzilla...he attacked everything within reach with those big teeth of his and succeeded in escaping the glue board. We had a half naked squirrel running around for a few weeks. It would have been simpler to just shot the rodents.
9 posted on 10/20/2010 7:29:10 PM PDT by crazyhorse691 (Now that the libs are in power dissent is not only unpatriotic, but, it is also racist.)
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To: nickcarraway

Squirrels are lot more aggressive than I would have thought. Recently, I observed a hawk, which landed on my fence and was eying a squirrel in my yard. I thought the squirrel was going to become a meal, but the squirrel saw the hawk too. To my surprise, the squirrel rushed the hawk and chased it away.


10 posted on 10/20/2010 7:30:08 PM PDT by Brilliant
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To: Dahoser

LOL!


11 posted on 10/20/2010 7:30:28 PM PDT by Abigail Adams
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To: nickcarraway

I hate Squirrels. They are into everything, and they have an attitude NOT unlike radical Democrats.

There’s a trap available at most feed stores called a “Squirrelinator”.

It works. I’ve caught up to eight at a time in the one I have. You can put the trap with the Squirrels into the bed of your pick em up truck, and drive to your local Democrat politician’s neighborhood, and let them loose if you wish.


12 posted on 10/20/2010 7:40:20 PM PDT by rockinqsranch (Dems, Libs, Socialists, call 'em what you will, they ALL have fairies livin' in their trees.)
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To: Slings and Arrows
Photobucket
13 posted on 10/20/2010 7:41:47 PM PDT by Clay Moore (The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of a fool to the left. Ecclesiastes 10:2)
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To: nickcarraway
Photobucket
14 posted on 10/20/2010 7:43:27 PM PDT by Clay Moore (The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of a fool to the left. Ecclesiastes 10:2)
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To: Dahoser

lolz


15 posted on 10/20/2010 7:56:43 PM PDT by martin_fierro (< |:)~)
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To: nickcarraway
You might enjoy this (from FR):

(Vanity) Chiefly on Squirrels, or, Darwin Meets the Michelin Man

or this (originally from NPR, IIRC):

Squirrel Cop

Cheers!

16 posted on 10/20/2010 8:12:30 PM PDT by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: Grizzled Bear

Bookmarked for my biker pals :-D


17 posted on 10/20/2010 8:35:17 PM PDT by Squawk 8888 (TSA and DHS are jobs programs for people who are not smart enough to flip burgers)
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To: Pete-R-Bilt

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2611506/posts?page=5#5


18 posted on 10/20/2010 9:53:05 PM PDT by B4Ranch (Conflict is inevitable; Combat is an option. Train for the fight.)
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To: windcliff

ping


19 posted on 10/21/2010 6:41:18 AM PDT by stylecouncilor (What Would Jim Thompson Do?)
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