Squirrelly shenanigans

Playful rodents make some noise for judge

Two squirrels ruled the roof and ceilings above the Miller County judge’s office for several weeks, but they were finally caught without being injured using a trap and WD-40.

“For about two months on and off, we could hear them running and smacking while eating. Then they would disappear. When they came back it sounded like they were having a ball running across the ceiling,” said Miller County Judge Roy John McNatt.

McNatt, his staff and occasionally visitors could hear noise of something running in the ceiling above the offices in the Texarkana, Ark., courthouse.

The maintenance staff got a live trap with the goal of trapping whatever was running in the ceiling. It was uncertain what was creating the noise.

McNatt got pecans for bait from his house and brought them to the office so maintenance tech Gauge Bustin could bait the trap. He used a ladder to climb to the top of the ceiling, which is about 12 feet in height to remove the ceiling tile and set up the trap. The trap would have a door to come down if it was triggered so the animal is not injured, but it’s captured.

“The squirrels were smart. They would go over the trap and get the pecans and then they would be gone,” said McNatt.

Then the idea was conceived to make a hair trigger trap by using WD-40, a lubricant to grease the door.

“If it touched anything, it would go off. It was touch and go. Within a day or two we heard it go off,” said McNatt. The greased trap worked. The squirrel was removed unharmed and Nancy Herron, chief deputy assessor for Miller County volunteered to adopt the squirrels and took them to

a wooded area near her house.

“My granddaughter (Savannah Smith, 12,) loves the squirrels,” said Herron.

The personalities were displayed when the squirrels were released. One squirrel “darted out” and the second squirrel “loped” out of the cage.

The squirrels were suspected of getting into the building through a hole near an air conditioning unit, McNatt said

The old unit has been replaced and the roof is sealed to prevent varmints from entering the ceiling.

“It was fun. We heard them for a couple of months playing. We worried they would fall through the ceiling and land on our desk or land on someone,” said secretary Tammy Dirickson.