THE SLAUGHTER OF A CHIPMUNK

I take no pride in recounting this horrid account of the slaughter of a chipmunk. It occurred in the fall of 2008 on a clear cool Saturday morning. It was an ugly occurrence and I tried everything I could think of to avoid it. It was truly horrid and gruesome and I wish it had not come to slaughter. The chipmunk was a beautiful animal to observe up close and personal. I never saw one that close before or since.

This occurred because I left the door open so my late pet cat Spooky could come and go, as she desired. Spook loved to go outside when she pleased and she was very independent. She would frolic in the yard and she was joyful when she was outside and she never chased any animal except maybe a bug or two.

Enter Salem my male cat and Salem is a hunter he’s almost feral. He’ll chase and catch any animal he even attacked a 120-pound German Shepherd. He chases deer, birds, squirrels and mice. I was relaxing in my room when I heard a ruckus in the sunroom. I saw Salem stalking something and I knew I had made a mistake leaving the door open.

I lazily got up from my bed and made my way to the sunroom where the entire ruckus was occurring.  I saw what I was expecting Salem had something cornered in the sunroom.  I couldn’t make out exactly what it was at first. Upon closer inspection it was obvious it was a chipmunk. It was hunkered in a corner behind some piles of junk.  The poor baby was frightened half to death because I could see him trembling, but Salem was unrelenting in his pursuit. Salem was hissing and meowing and darting at the chipmunk. Poor chippy was just exasperated and he relieved himself right there in the corner of the sunroom.

 

 

At this point I had one goal and that was to get Chippy back outside into the wild and back to his family.  I devised a plan to accomplish this goal, which is detailed below:

 

1. I put Spooky and Salem in my room so neither could harm Chippy.
2. I opened the French door to the sunroom wide to make an escape route.
3. I grabbed a broom to scare Chippy so he would go through the open door.
4. I planned on blocking the doorway to the kitchen the last means of escape except outside.

 

I never saw how quick a frightened chipmunk could move before. Chippy darted between my legs into the kitchen and under the dishwasher before I could redirect him outside. Thus my plan went astray.  Now I had a trapped and scared chipmunk underneath my dishwasher. Oh woe is I!!!!!!!!!!

This was not the situation I had planned on. I called both of my daughters and a few friends for advice. Everyone was telling me how to kill Chippy and that wasn’t my intention. If I wanted Chippy dead I would have let nature take it’s course when Salem had him trapped, or I could have got out my double-barreled 12 gauge and blasted him to pieces. So I went from Saturday to Sunday with chippy trapped under my dishwasher. I had peeked at him several times and he was going nowhere.

I’m sure you have all experienced the situation of being awoken at the first light of dawn and being a little disoriented.  Well that is the exact situation I found myself in on that cool Sunday morning. Spooky was dashing and darting around my room. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and saw her chasing Chippy all over the place.  I saw an opportunity to release him again. So I sleepily jumped up and he ran across my foot and my heart raced wildly. I was beginning to wonder if saving him was worth the trouble.

 

I came to my senses and saw I could open the French door again and let Spooky chase him outside.  Chippy had other things in mind he darted back under the dishwasher.  During various times in the morning I saw him running a various places in the house and always tried to steer him outside. I never quite succeeded. I was tuckered out and had to relieve myself. I was standing at the commode and I glanced to my left and there was Chippy on the bathroom windowsill. I thought if I can get the window open I could shoo him outside to safety.

 

Just as I stared to crank the window open Chippy jumped over my hand into the commode. I didn’t have evil intentions but instinct took over as he was climbing the porcelain. I slammed the lid closed and flushed him down. Then the horridness of what I had just perpetrated hit my like a ton of bricks.  I called my daughters and told them Chippy had a burial at sea!!!!!!!!!!!