Squirrel Returns Home Safely After Being Abducted (Squirrel-napped!)

Squirrels are pretty adorable animals. My own father once videotaped baby squirrels in our yard for a good two hours. However, as cute as they are, squirrels are wild animals and should not be taken out of their own environment to become a household pet.

This is unfortunately what happened to one unnamed squirrel who’s story began “when a truck driver at an Interstate 80 rest stop near the Utah-Wyoming border lured her into a makeshift box trap,” reports the Wisconsin State Journal.

The squirrels at that stop have apparently become used to being fed by people, said Gayle Viney, spokeswoman for the Dane County Humane Society in Madison. The squirrel was given to a family in Wisconsin as a pet, who kept her for two months until they realized she should go back to her home.

A kind volunteer drove the squirrel back home from Wisconsin to Utah “in a a crate with a little hiding box inside, hay, and other natural items to help her feel safe,” says the Wisconsin State Journal.

She is now residing at the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Northern Utah, where sanctuary workers are trying to trick her out of hibernating. Due to improper care, she does not have the necessary body weight to survive hibernation, reports The Northwestern.

Thankfully, this story has a happy ending so far, with the morale of the story being of course, just leave wildlife in the wild. Although, if you find a squirrel in your bag of mulch, nursing it back to health like this person did would be the right thing to do.