A Few Acorns Short of a Whole Tree

Katie and I noticed a car pulled over on the side of the road when we were driving on Deerfoot this weekend.

A man got out of the car carrying a small wire cage. He put it on the ground and let out a little black squirrel. The poor squirrel must have been disoriented from his first car ride because instead of taking off towards the tree line, he darted towards the highway.

Now not to worry my animal loving friends, although I didn’t see it happen, I’m confident that the little squirrel waited patiently on the side of the road for a break in traffic, looked both ways and hopped over to the other side.

However, the question remains, why this man would decided to set a squirrel free on the side of one of the busiest highways in the city?

There are so many other places that would have been more practical for a freeloading squirrel.

Perhaps the man could have left him at a park, where he could have taken up residence in a hollowed out tree. He could have taken him to Banff, where the squirrel could have scammed tourists in a Get-Rich-Quick scheme and happily retired in the Bahamas. Or as a last resort he could have at least left him at the Brick on 16th Ave. Anything would have been better than the highway.

Unfortunately this man decided that his little friend would stand the best chance if he started out his new life dodging semi-trucks.

I hope that if the squirrel ever runs into that man again he thumps him with a few acorns and says, “Thanks for trying, but next time…don’t help!”