A story about a boy’s relationship with a squirrel and a young man’s quest to get rid of the critter that attacked his father.
“I wanted to do something with the squirrels because I don’t know how to do anything with animals,” said Andrew Rutter, who lives in the town of Pembrokes Lake, about 75 kilometres east of Wellington, New Zealand.
“It was a little sad, and I was in tears.”
“My dad took it to the vet, he gave me a shot, and it went down.”
We thought it would be a long time but it came back.
“Mr Rutter’s father had a small squirrel, and after a few weeks, the boy decided to take him home.”
He didn’t care about the squirrel or anything,” Mr Rutter said.”
So, I said, ‘I think we need to get the squirrel back.’
“Mr Rutters took the squirrel to the local pet store and, after some trial and error, he decided to buy him a toy and take him out for a walk.”
That was my first step towards getting rid of it,” he said.
When he returned, Mr Rutters found the squirrel still alive, but the animal was injured and not eating.”
The vet came and took it out and said, well, it’s a little bit hurt, but it will recover,” he recounted.”
They had to put it in a tank, and when it was back in the tank, it was dead.
“Mr Kwan, the owner of the pet store, said Mr Rutes squirrel was a very friendly pet.”
If I hadn’t seen it on the street, I would have given it a shot,” he explained.”
But he is a very nice cat, and he’s so well behaved, he’s very easy to live with.
“Mr Masefield, the veterinarian, said the squirrel was in excellent health.”
My vet said he’s fine and he is not getting any sick, but he’s still very, very nervous,” he added.”
You could see he was very scared.
“As a pet owner, you don’t want to have a squirrel attack you, so you don�t want to touch him, so it was a good decision.”
Mr Cuthbert said the decision to remove the animal had been a difficult one.
“People get scared,” he told the ABC.
“And they just don’t realise the dangers they’re putting themselves in, and that�s really what they should do.”
Topics:animal-behaviour,health,health-administration,lifestyle-and-leisure,community-and%E2%80%93-culture,environment,pets,healthcare-facilities,pimlico-3350,louisville-accra-3100More stories from New Zealand