A Chipmunk Tale

I was happily sitting on the couch with my nose in a book, when some very excited girls came screaming into the house.  I finally understood that they had rescued a chipmunk from the cat.  Well, this I must see for myself!  So I did.

 They had nabbed him by the tail (and they did inform me it was a him!) and put him in this bucket.  He did not appear to have any real injuries aside from a missing toenail, but his back end did not seem to be working well.  I was worried about a spinal injury and trying to figure out the best thing to do with a terminally internally injured chipmunk.

 I went to google chipmunks and came back to see this.  The little guy was letting the girls hold him.

He seemed pretty docile and the girls were so excited to hold him and love him and try to figure out how to keep him. I couldn't figure out what to do with him.  Jonathan had already told his girls they would not be keeping it.  That was good, because who wants to have their new pet die on them?  But it still begged the question of how to end him quickly or should we release him to a slow and painful demise.

 See how sweet and adorable he is!

And Callie had to have a picture with it too.

So, the follow up.....

I went inside to look up wildlife or humane societies that might take a chipmunk and deal with it so I could stop worrying about it.  As I was dismissing the "critter control" guy as an option, one of the girls came in to inform me that someone had dropped the chipmunk and he had scampered away.  The details were a little hazy, but it bit the hand that grabbed for him and he bolted away, seemingly on 4 good legs.  I was delighted to be rid of the "that to do with it" problem, but the girls were so sad to have lost him.  Nevermind that Jonathan had said the little guy would be out of their possession by nightfall. I do not know if the chipmunk was truly injured or not.  I hope he ran to a safe place and is living a long and happy life.  that is what I told Callie he's doing and I hope it is true!