Bret, a Squirrel, and a College Campus

So that story I was talking about.

Once upon a time on a campus far far away (actually, just in Moorhead, MN)... On a sunny but still crisp spring day as I was walking from one class to another along the edge of the "mall" -- a central long courtyard of sorts surrounded by trees and shrubs and criss-crossed with sidewalks -- I noticed a little squirrel a bit ahead of me who was a few feet up on the base of a tree that was maybe 4 or 5 feet off the sidewalk.

Still on the sidewalk, as I neared the tree the squirrel started climbing down, right in plain sight instead of circling to the backside of the tree in the usual squirrelly fashion.

As I got even closer, the little bugger started walking right towards me. A little bit cautiously, but right up to me until it was within about 2 feet, just off the sidewalk.

So I stopped.

I stopped and I crouched down, which stopped him in his tracks. From here, I could see he was a pretty skinny little thing. Maybe young, like a thin little teenage squirrel or something.

I held out my hand and made the little ticking sound with my tongue, and was surprised that he didn't just tear off back to the tree or anywhere else but where I was. I was also a little nervous like, "what if this thing thinks I'm gonna hurt it and bites me?" but I figured, "No way, squirrels don't lunge at you, they just run away." To my surprise, he let me inch a little bit closer to him, and actually taking a couple steps closer to me, got on his haunches and sniffed my hand.

Holy!

By now, some other students that were walking by noticed, and were watching to see what epic battle might be about to occur between Man (boy?) and Squirrel. Perhaps even to laugh at the idiot sticking his hand in front of a wild animal like that.

BUT, no such cause for alarm! The squirrel let me touch him, then walked right up to my foot and stepped onto my shoe.

I'm not even kidding -- was a little surreal.

After that, I wondered if he'd actually let me pick him up, so I cautiously wrapped my fingers under his little belly at which point I felt exactly how skinny this little dude was. He fidgeted a little bit, but let me pick him up and put him on my jeans where he sort of clung to me with some seriously sharp claws, and just sniffed around a little bit, letting me pet his head. How cool was this??

Now the couple of people watching were ooohing and awwwing, I think as surprised as I was about what was actually happening.

After a handful of minutes of this amazingness, I had to move on. Get to class. This was so worth stopping for, but I was already late. So, I slipped my fingers back under the little fella, peeled his sharp claws off my jeans, and set him down on the sidewalk then stood up and took a step or two back.

I'll be damned if the little dude didn't scurry right back to my shoe, climb on, and then start up the leg of my jeans.

Shit! Now what was I gonna do? I had made a friend apparently.

After one more attempted separation and immediate re-engagement, the now handful of people watching were like "Wow. He likes you!" I put him on my sweatshirt and stood up, asking what they thought I should do.

One of them suggested I take him to the Biology department, and let them maybe fatten him up and release him back to the "wild" or something. That sounded like as good an idea as any and the biology department was only a couple hundred feet away or so, so they wished me luck and I was on my way.

I got there and told them about the little adventure, at which point they told me that the squirrel population experienced a significant shortage of food over the preceding winter and this early spring, and the little guy was probably hoping I'd give him some food or something. They admitted, it was pretty ballsy of him to do that, and that probably meant he was very desperate.

Ouch. I hurt for the little guy.

So I asked if I could leave him with them and they could care for him.

And now's the point in the story where I should let the amazingness of the adventure just soak in a little bit more, as it has done for me over the years. I mean, this was really unique. Nothing similar has happened to me before or after, nor has anyone told me a similar story about their making the acquaintance of such a squirrel-friend.

All that in mind, the next part is something that I wish would have happened differently.

After I asked if they could take care of them, they said they were sorry, but they weren't really set up for such things and would likely have to just put him down.

I felt like I had little choice but to leave him there with them, so that's what I did. I think I left saying "I'm going to go, and pretend I don't know what you're going to do..."

I should have taken him back outside and tried to set him free again, but instead I think I caused the end of his hunger permanently.

Poor little squirrel.

I think about him sometimes.