Squirrel with Easter egg stuck on its head rescued by Kansas firefighters, animal control

A squirrel with its head stuck in an Easter egg was rescued from a tree by Salina firefighters.

Lindsay Garber said she first thought the plastic blue egg was a cup when she found the squirrel in a tree outside Farm Bureau on Friday morning.

The squirrel was trying to pull the egg off its head on its own when self-described pet detective Brandon Sokol, an animal control officer with Salina Animal Services, was called.

Sokol said he got on the back of a truck and tried to get the squirrel with a catch pole, but the scared squirrel, which was already 30 feet off the ground, climbed even higher.

Firefighters and a taller ladder were called, and they got the squirrel back on the ground, Sokol said.

But with the egg still on its head, the vision-impaired squirrel took off and ran into a wall instead of up a tree, Sokol said. He caught the squirrel with the pole's net, and the squirrel went "berserk" inside, knocking off the egg on its own.

Once the egg popped off, the squirrel ran off on its own, Sokol said.

Even though Easter was five days earlier, he estimated the squirrel had been stuck in the egg for a day. It would have been in trouble if it had gone a few more days without water, he said.

The plastic Easter egg's two halves had been taped shut, Sokol said, when the squirrel chewed through one end, got its head stuck and gnawed a hole in the other side.

It is not known if the squirrel found any candy — or nuts — inside.

"I like to think he got himself something good," Sokol said.

Sokol said people who put out Easter eggs should be responsible and conscientious of wildlife and the environment.

"Remember that wildlife also love to find Easter eggs so try to find them first," Salina Animal Services said in a Facebook post.

This story was originally published April 7, 2018 at 10:52 AM with the headline "Squirrel with Easter egg stuck on its head rescued by Kansas firefighters, animal control."