Squirrels gone wild
Mainers identify a pesky home invader that can do tremendous damage and drive you nearly nutty
By RAY ROUTHIER, Staff Writer April 20, 2008 (Home & Garden section)
Susan Collins, one of Maine's two Republican senators, was literally run out of her four-room Washington, D.C., townhouse by squirrels in February.
It began when she heard little feet above her bedroom at night. One night she arrived home from work and saw that the kitchen had been "ransacked." A tin of cookies had been pushed off the counter, crumbs were all over the place, utensils were scattered.
It was too much for a mouse to have caused, she thought. But because she was leaving the next day for Maine, she decided not to take action.
Big mistake. When she came back from her trip, her townhouse was a wreck.
"There was a trail of droppings on every floor, there was urine on an upholstered chair, there were tufts of insulation on the kitchen floor," Collins said. "I decided to just leave everything as it was and spend the night in a hotel."
She hired a pest control company, which trapped three live squirrels and found a dead one trapped underneath her dishwasher. Collins estimates that hiring the company, staying in a hotel and repairing the damage made the cost of the squirrels' visit more than $1,000.
"When I see a squirrel outside, I no longer think, 'Aren't they cute?' " Collins said.
Now seen as mocking Senator Collins
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