Morty – The Squirrel Who Would Not Die

My son and I had quite the mini-adventure last week. On Thursday he called me from a friend’s cell phone on the way home from school to tell me, “Mom, there’s a squirrel with its head caught in a rat trap on someone’s front lawn. It’s alive. Should we try to get it out?” Being a mom, I immediately said “NO!” – picturing bites followed by rabies shots – but said I’d call the SPCA. The SPCA put me on to Wildlife Rescue, and the girl was lovely and said she’d try to get a driver out.Just as my son walked through the door she called back. “I have a huge favor to ask,” she said. “I can’t get any drivers” (they’re located in New Westminster, which is really far away). “Can you go get the squirrel and bring him to the Vancouver Animal Emergency Hospital?”

Okay, honestly – and this may reflect poorly on my character – I didn’t want to do it. Try to grab a frantic squirrel and stick him in a box and drive him to an animal hospital? But when I saw my son’s face (he’d seen the poor creature, not me), it was a no brainer. We got gardening gloves, a towel and a box, and drove back to the house.

The squirrel was curled in a fetal position in the road by now. He’d actually managed to get free of the rat trap. I wish I’d taken a photo of this trap. Imagine a regular mouse trap, and at least quadruple the size of it. What anyone was doing with something like this on their front lawn, is beyond my comprehension. There was food in it – they were definitely after something. Imagine if a small dog had gone onto their lawn, or a toddler!

We thought he was likely dead. Then a car drove past and he leapt in the air, but crookedly. We approached him and he jumped again, but landed in almost the same spot. I figured his back was broken. I put on the gardening gloves and threw the towel over him, which made him stop jumping. I quickly picked him up, pretty sure I wasn’t near his teeth, and put him in a cardboard box. My son held the box closed (with room for breathing) on the way to the clinic.

I was sure they were just going to euthanize the poor thing. But miraculously, nothing seemed to be broken. They gave him pain killers and said he’d be transferred the next day to a place called Critter Care. I just called them – and apparently MORTY – the name my son gave the squirrel because “mort” is French for “death” and Morty had defied death – is doing very well. They’re hopeful he will make a full recovery. Oh, except they called Morty a “she.” But we’ll still call her Morty.

Anyway, I filled out a form at the vet’s and checked off the box that said we’d be willing to do more volunteer “rescues” if ever needed – it certainly livened up an otherwise uneventful Thursday. I’m picturing Oskar and I, out rescuing birds and raccoons etc. a few days a week – hmm, I’m picturing a “Danger Bay” spinoff!