Dead Squirrel In Open Live Trap - Very Strange

Look carefully and you can see squirrel in the trap, the trap door wide open at right. The animal was dead. This was most strange to me.

A very strange incident occurred here. I found a dead squirrel in a live animal trap I had set in our backyard. What made it strange was the trap was never sprung. The trap door was open and the squirrel was  laying dead inside. It's incomprehensible to me how the creature enters the trap without tripping the door shut.  With the trap door open it was free to enter and leave the trap at will. How did it die? Did it just walk into the trap and lay down and die? I examined it and could see nothing obvious that caused it's death. It's as if someone placed a dead squirrel in the trap and then set the door open. I can't explain it.

Found this critter laying dead in a live animal trap. The door was open, the animal wasn't trapped. I can find no obvious reason how it died.

Squirrel Chewing Our Wooden Fence

 Thursday, June 16: I discover a squirrel chewing up the wood fence in our backyard.

Squirrel chewing up our fence. 

It was just after dark and I heard a peculiar sound coming from our back yard. Sounded like wood snapping or banging with a scraping noise. I get a flashlight and discover a squirrel busy knawing away on our fence. A huge amount of it chewed up. The squirrel seemed fixated  what he was doing and didn't try to run from me or anything. I got quite close and he wouldn't budge. Its after dark and squirrels are supposed to be in bed. Why is this one so active? This was all very creepy. Well I snapped his picture and posted it on Facebook that night.  The next morning a Facebook viewer asked if the animal was stuck. WOW! That never occurred to me. A second look at the photo and sure enough, looks like he got stuck between the boards and was chewing his was free. I checked the fence that morning and the critter was not there.

Squirrel chewing up our fence. 

Live Trapped Two Squirrels

 I recently trapped and released two squirrels at our home in Chaumont, NY. The great squirrel I got on December 4, 2023. The red squirrel I caught yesterday, February 23, 2024. I released each one near my celebrity brother's home in Calcium. Squirrels have been a big nuisance here in Chaumont over the years. Occasionally I use a Have A Heart live animal trap. to try and get some away from our house.

Grey squirrel in live animal trap, December 4, 2023

                       

My celebrity brother Al checks out a red squirrel I caught yesterday, Feb 22, 2024