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Unfortunately this comes to a rather abrupt end. My brother, with help from Dad, had made a squirrel box, which Buddy had for a week or two to get used to. We had some really nice weather in March, followed by snow in April. The first day of spring, the first warm day after the late snow, we put Buddy in his box, taped the hole closed, and walked to the park. We choose the park for release because it was near my employers, the squirrels there are people friendly, people go to the park to feed the squirrels, and I had spotted some squirrel boxes in some of the trees as well. It is also a very large park with lots of space to run, and the nearby road has a 90 degree angle so the traffic is slow.
By the time we got to the park, Buddy had made a large hole in the duct tape, and could almost squeeze himself through, except his hips. The tape came off his house, and he tried to run off with a duct tape skirt, but managed to slip through with some help. He was biting and fighting us. (Rarely, but a few times we had locked him in his cage/nest in his room for a very short period of time, and he always hated it, but didn't hold a grudge). So the second he was free he bounded down the hill and out of sight. We put his house up in a tree, left some food, and then walked in the direction Buddy had run off. We didn't see him, or at least we couldn't tell, as there were a few black squirrels running around. When I went back later that day the broccoli, carrot and orange were gone, though the other squirrels appear uninterested in such cuisine. We couldn't really tell if he was using his box. It felt like a bit of an anticlimax, but considered the release more successful than had he clung to us in fear. I had planned to stay with him as long as it took for him to get used to the new situation, just wasn't expecting it to happen so fast.
Making new friends...
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