Yet another Pest to Deal with.

    In the good old days of  Los Gatos I had a mice problem.  As you have read and seen, I took out 3 mice with a pellet gun and feed them to my snake. Where I live now I have a squirrel problem.  My wife loves to plant flowers, and those darn squirrels keep digging them up.  We both watched Martha, Rebecca's Garden  and The Gardening Guy on possible solutions that don't end up in the snake cage.  Coyote Urine, chicken wire in the soil, plastic type tarp around the plants all for not.  Cayenne Pepper worked the best, but would only deter for a few days.  So I walked outside with Mr. Pellet Rifle, but had a change of heart after I lined up the fury little bastard in my cross hairs.  Unlike mice, a squirrel is cute, and to my knowledge can't be bought at no pet shop for snake food.  Execution of the fluffy tail would not happen.  A capture, charges, trial and a verdict would end in a re-location of said animal.

The Trap

    Went down to the local hardware store and asked Big Jim for the best in humane traps.  Big Jim was only to happy to show me the trap section of the store.  And there it was. A nice Aluminum Trap with a step plate that would drop down the back of the trap enclosing the animal.  It would also double as a holding cell until after the trial.

Crime committed 10/6/05

    Wife comes home and dirt is all over the front porch.  The flowers have been taken advantage of.  I try to convince my wife that a plant rape kit would be needed as to be sure squirrel DNA could be found.  She looks at me like a nut and tells me to get the hell out of the front yard.   I manage to snap a picture of the crime scene.

    I go into the backyard and find that the cage has caught one of the guilty parties.  I snap a mug shot and read him/her their rights.  I tell him/her that if a fellow squirrel wishes to come down from the tree above and defend him/her they can.  I look up in the tree and one is looking back at me, and then it runs off.  I turn back to the cage and read the charges.

1. One count mischief behavior. 2.One count of digging up flower life.  3.One count of  burying a nut for future excavation. 4.One Count of taking it to the next level. 5. One count of mocking the supreme intellect  from a tree branch.  How do you plead?

    He/She said nothing.  Not even a small bark.  Silence in my court means Not Guilty.  So off to trial he/she went.

    I took all charges to my virtual jury. And as you might have guessed, they all agree.  Guilty as charged!!!

         The penalty phase went just as fast.  The animal will be re-located to another part of the South Bay.   There it will do it's time until it dies of natural causes.  I.E  a hawk attack or a rumble with another gang of Squirrels.  Ether way it's out of my hands.