Squirrel Story

I often drive home to eat lunch. It makes for a nice break in the day and my cats love the company. Well, the other day I was driving back to work after lunch and drove my car wheels directly over a small mound in the road so I wouldn't actually hit it (I didn't know what it was and I hate driving over road kill.....I know it sounds weird, but it seems like I'm being disrespectful of the dead little animals if I drive a tire over them). As I drove over it, I looked in my rear-view mirror to take another look at it and all of a sudden I saw a little head pop up. I sucked in my breath in shock and slammed on my breaks....what was it?? Did I hurt it?? So, I turned my car around and went to check it out.

As I got out of my car, parked at the side of the road with its flashers on, I started walking over to the mound. As I got closer, I realized it was a young-ish looking squirrel. It looked like a teenager squirrel. It didn't look hurt, but it wasn't running away from me. I was within a foot or so from it and it used it's little front arms to get away from me. It's little back leg was squashed....Awwwww, poor little guy. So, I shepherded the squirrel across the road. It kept running (with it's front paws) in circles, so I had to get him to go in the right direction. He was so close to me I could have bent over and picked it right up. I got him close to a tree and then got back to my car.

I sat in my car for a good minute looking at the squirrel. It wouldn't live long.....a cat or other predator would surly snag it for a snack. What do I do? Go back to work without trying to save it or go back home and get the tools to catch it and take it to the Wild Animal Refuge in Bloomington? Of course, I'm sure you all can guess what I did. But, upon my return with my cat-carrier and a towel, the little guy had climbed the tree to a branch tall enough that I couldn't reach him. So, I saw this as a sign that I did all I could do and went on to work. But, I've kept my cat-carrier in my car since then just in case.