Two boys, Jayden and Auden, were walking through their local area when they noticed a crowd of people huddled around a car. As they got closer they tried to make out what the crowd was looking at, but it was the strangest site. A creature was just frozen, unable to move. The boys knew they had to act quickly if this animal was to survive but they had no idea how to help the poor critter. The teens, who reportedly made the unusual discovery, were hailed as heroes for their actions before the end of the day. When they noticed a group of people huddled around they had to see what had caused them to stop and stare.
But even close up they weren’t sure what they were looking at. The animal was barely recognizable and looked like it was frozen solid. A squirrel was trapped under a car and covered in insulation foam. They knew it didn’t have long left to live “There was nothing recognizable about it,” 15-year-old Jayden told CBC Canaada. The boys knew the squirrel needed help but wasn’t sure how to get that help so they went inside a grocery store and grabbed a small milk crate to house the squirrel. Nobody around the boys knew what to do either and as time passed, the emergency got greater. The boys made calls to friends and family asking for help.
Then Jayden’s mom stepped in and contacted a veterinary clinic 20 miles away and was told to bring the animal in immediately. “I had never seen anything like this before,” Dr. Melanie said. She said the squirrel was so encrusted in the insulation foam, it could only move its back legs slightly. If the boys had not acted so quickly and the boys’ mother hadn’t helped them to bring the squirrel in, then it may not have survived. The veterinarian suspected that the animal may have been living in someone’s garage, basement or shed and got caught in the material.
“Someone was probably patching up a hole trying to keep a draft out and this little guy ran through it when it was still wet,” she said. “But that stuff hardens pretty quickly so it wouldn’t have taken long for him to become in distress.”She said it took time, patience and rubbing alcohol to loosen the foam from the animal’s fur. She then combed it out, causing the animal to lose some of its fur. The squirrel has since been released back into the wild.
