The Case of the Purloined Squirrel Corpse

They'd be able to lift it, ya think?

The young fellas my husband works with actually shoot squirrels and make stew out of them. Weird but True!

I have to wonder, how much squirrel is left once it's shot with a gun? And how many squirrels do they need to make a stew?

A yucky idea, but these boys grew up way rural (yeah, in Florida). Seems, er, normal to them.

Yeah, that's the basis of the squirrel-in-the-fridge thing. We did talk about it, but we weren't serious. (E.G.'s dad used to shoot squirrels with his bb gun to supplement the family's protein. Big family, not much money. They'd actually make squirrel stew.)

Most parts of the country have a squirrel season in which it is legal to hunt squirrels. It's not as unusual as you would think or hope.

I vote it was take-out dinner for some other critter. In the future, assuming this happens again, I would suggest burying the thing before it starts to rot.

YEP, Red tail gawks are pretty big and can fly away with a chicken if they get really hungry.

Wow. OK, I'm ready to give up the zombie squirrel theory then. (Does anyone think it could've been stunned?)

You just missed the squirrel paramedics and the tiny ambulance.

I took it just to freak you out. I was going to put it back just to further freak you out but now you've gone and ruined my surprise.

You're just covering for the fact that you already made it into some tasty, tasty squirrel stew so there's nothing to put back. Admit it!

Yeah.... well.... now I have.

Aha - he was beamed up.

the bugs on the eyeballs thing make that seem a bit unlikely

i been trying to avoid this thread, but I AM somrthing of a squirrel afficianado.

were the eyeball being consumed by the bugs, or were they just dancing around upon them like little glassy skating rinks?

the reason I ask is this.

i have known some rather incredibly brave squirrels in my time, and in the course of their adventures, some have been known to fall and knock the bejeesus outta themselves. stay down for a while, unconscious and all that, and when their little pea-brains get the wiring all reworked and straightened out, BANG, up they'd shoot and off they would go again.

they are kinda mystifying little devils if you watch them closely...

So, you mean, a dead-looking squirrel could have insects crawling about its eyes, then get up and walk away?

I think this qualifies as a Zombie Squirrel! <Shudders>

Glassy!!!


It's aliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiivvvvvvvvve!

They are not brave, they are, well, squirrely.

Solved!



I really do think it was a cat.

That's a chipmunk! About a third of the size of a squirrel.

Rockhead's buggy ice-skating rink was eerily accurate -- that's exactly what I saw. If he's seen squirrels scamper off after that, I can believe that's what happened.

Pic of cat and squirrel for relative size:



Note -- I think a cat would and could kill a live squirrel, but less convinced it would want to drag away an already-dead one. And the squirrel didn't have a mark on it.

We had a cat who hunted squirrels and collected the tails behind a board propped against the house. We found them all there after the cat went missing. But I don't think she would have gone after an already dead squirrel, like you say.

I'm leaning towards the zombie theory unless you have some other scavenging animals nearby.