There must be some new, young squirrels roaming our backyard and scampering over the roof these days, because a couple of them have had misadventures in the last few months. It could be just one really silly squirrel, but I prefer to think they were two different ones. One couldn't possibly get into the same sort of trouble twice.
Some time in January, on one of the days when I was working from home, I heard quite a racket coming from outside. It was such a clatter bang that I opened the door to investigate. I couldn't identify the source of the noise at first but then figured it out when I heard some scratching - a squirrel had been on the roof, perhaps running in or near the gutter, and somehow fell into the drainpipe at one edge of the patio. There is a black, flexible piece of plastic tubing that connects the drainpipe to the ground, so that water drains underground instead of splashing on the patio and creating a pool. Unfortunately, the bottom half of that tubing is now under cement, courtesy of the patio. Therefore, the squirrel could not just slide out at the bottom end of the drainpipe. Also, because the sides of the drainpipe are so smooth, the squirrel was unable to clamber up and get back to the opening through which it had fallen.
I was hoping the squirrel would be able to follow the tubing out to wherever the water empties into the yard or street, but a day later, I went to check and could still hear the squirrel scratching inside the drainpipe. I occasionally look out the at the backyard through the glass in the French doors to give my eyes a break from the computer screen, and during one of those breaks, as I watched a squirrel swinging from branch to branch in the trees, scrambling up and down the trunks as another squirrel chased it, I noticed a long piece of a tree branch, that had fallen some months ago, leaning against the back fence. It suddenly occurred to me that if it was thin enough to fit into the drainpipe, the squirrel could use it to climb up and get out that way. After I'd finished work, I got the branch, propped up the ladder, climbed onto the roof and then began pushing the wood into the drainpipe. It wasn't a straight branch, of course, but surprisingly it fit into the drainpipe. I got back on the ladder and climbed down to the patio, and almost immediately heard the squirrel racing up the drainpipe by using the wood. I thought it was quite smart of it to have figured out the plan so quickly. Since it had been trapped for at least a couple of days, it was very hungry and just sat near the bird feeder looking at me. I put out a few nuts for it and those were quickly gobbled up.
A few weeks later, Beau and Belle were out in the backyard one evening and I went outside to check on them, as I occasionally do to be sure they haven't found some way to get through the fence and run off to have an adventure. Beau was standing next to the drainpipe at the other end of the house, looking at it in a puzzled way and sniffing. I thought to myself, "Another squirrel can't possibly have fallen in a drainpipe!" I was wrong.
I have no idea how long that squirrel had been in there but it must have been at least a couple of days if not longer, because there were several tiny puncture holes near the bottom of the drainpipe. The poor creature had apparently been using its sharp nails (or perhaps even teeth) to make holes in the drainpipe to try and get out. This one has the same black plastic pipe at the bottom, buried in the earth, so there was no easy exit. When I tapped on the drainpipe, the trapped squirrel made the usual squirrel-type sounds but also began mewing like a cat, which made me think it was young. I sighed, then went to get the ladder and the long piece of stick (which I had kept propped up against the drainpipe from the first mishap just in case the same thing happened again). I got onto the roof and began pushing the stick down the drainpipe. I left it in and climbed back down the ladder, waiting expectantly for the squirrel to clamber up the stick, like the other one had done. Nothing happened. I shook the drainpipe a little and the squirrel made the same sort of noises as before but stayed at the bottom of the drainpipe. That's what made me think it couldn't be the same squirrel as before, because that one figured out really quickly how to use the stick to climb out.
I got back on the roof and pushed the stick further down, in case it wasn't close enough to the squirrel, but that still didn't work. As there didn't seem to be any other option, I began cutting the top of the black plastic pipe to try and get it away from the drainpipe, in order to let the squirrel get out that way. After some cutting, I finally managed to slip it off the bottom of the drainpipe. The plastic pipe was now next to the drainpipe rather than around it, and there was an opening at the end of the drainpipe. You'd think the squirrel would just slide out, wouldn't you? Of course not. That would have been too easy. Every time that silly creature got tired and its bottom began sliding out, it would get terrified because it thought it was about to fall through a hole into nothing (the bottom end of the drainpipe was about six to eight inches / 15 to 20 centimetres off the ground) and would push itself back into the drainpipe. Unbelievable!
I saw a couple of thick stones nearby and propped them up below the opening at the end of the drainpipe so that if the squirrel's bottom began falling out of the drainpipe again, it would feel some sort of a surface and would realise it wasn't going to fall. I then went back to cooking dinner. At some point while I was cooking, the squirrel finally managed to get itself out. When I went to check on it about ten minutes later, I could no longer see its tail at the end of the drainpipe or its claws through the holes it had made, and when I tapped on the drainpipe, there was no response like there had been earlier. The drama was finally at an end.
I eased the black plastic pipe back around the drainpipe (otherwise we'd have a lake at that end of the yard every time it rains) and went back to cooking. Haven't had any more trapped squirrels since then (that I know of, at least), so I'm hoping that means they both learned their lessons. It's a good thing for them they are so cute ...
