Squirrel!
We rescued a squirrel Wednesday night on the job. It had been trapped in the enclosed area of the stairwell in the south ramp since sometime Tuesday. While I was doing the driving patrol the next evening a couple people came up to me to report sightings. One told me the squirrel had gotten as far as the skyway lobby that morning, where it ran frantically around, startling employees on their way in to work.
We ended by propping the ground level doors open. I closed the one that was opening and closing on auto-pilot, for fear the motion would only scare the creature away. A couple of our people from the Security Control Center (Jesse and Robert ) chased it down the stairs. Robert had spotted it on the security cameras and directed Jesse to come in from above, then joined him. They used plastic 'floor wet' signs to bang the stair rails and poke at it when the creature tried hiding behind stanchions.
I put out a few cashews near the open door and stood by. When the squirrel came to ground level it first ran directly behind my feet, then up my leg! (Guess I looked friendly).
I tried backing slowly toward the door with the squirrel clinging to my slacks, but it took fright and ran off again. (Stupid squirrel).
It ran into a trash receptacle and the guys tried throwing a rug over that and hauling the whole bin out - but squirrel escaped again.
After more chasing up and down, we finally cornered it near the door and converged on it until it suddenly - finally - noticed the open door and ran out into the night. Last sighted heading for the park across the street.
.
We ended by propping the ground level doors open. I closed the one that was opening and closing on auto-pilot, for fear the motion would only scare the creature away. A couple of our people from the Security Control Center (Jesse and Robert ) chased it down the stairs. Robert had spotted it on the security cameras and directed Jesse to come in from above, then joined him. They used plastic 'floor wet' signs to bang the stair rails and poke at it when the creature tried hiding behind stanchions.
I put out a few cashews near the open door and stood by. When the squirrel came to ground level it first ran directly behind my feet, then up my leg! (Guess I looked friendly).
I tried backing slowly toward the door with the squirrel clinging to my slacks, but it took fright and ran off again. (Stupid squirrel).
It ran into a trash receptacle and the guys tried throwing a rug over that and hauling the whole bin out - but squirrel escaped again.
After more chasing up and down, we finally cornered it near the door and converged on it until it suddenly - finally - noticed the open door and ran out into the night. Last sighted heading for the park across the street.
.