And now, from our "sponsors"....

This whole story, The Saga of Wicky the Wat, is being posted on my organization's web site, chapter by chapter. It appears on our humor message forum, which is called "The Broom Closet." (that's a story in itself!) Below is a comment from Les, one of our members, and my reply to him. Les, who hails from Englad, is one of our volunteer chat hosts, and his sense of humor is just delicious! OH..in case anyone reading this freaks out, the "Chuckie" Les refers to was a huge ground hog who took up residency in our yard earlier this year....

Les wrote:

This one is right up my street, Marie, I look forward to the next installment. Incidentally, is his name really Wicky? And, what do you mean 'you re-located Chuckie - I thought you got him, did for him, signed is death certificate, Chuckie is no more, sort of thing????

Les,
So glad to oblige (mostly!)!

I suspect the little guy's name is actually "Ricky" because Donnie lisps and has trouble with the letter "R". No matter, this little marauder is quite an unusual animal (and I can think of a few other names I'd like to call him!!), nonetheless.

Chuckie's whereabouts are really unknown, but I do know he has decided to leave our backyard. Maybe it was the mothballs, or the massive chunks of concrete I plugged up his main entrance with -- or maybe the Great Flood (the day I used our garden hose to flood another of his entrance gateways with). I just don't know. But I can also tell you this: were Chuckie HERE right now, this current story would have been very short -- guaranteed!

As for the new critter, he is most likely the Allegheny wood rat, aka Pack Rat, which are known to live in this part of the country. Very rare and on the endangered species list, they still do exist and OF COURSE, this one was wise enough to pick the property of a wildlife rehab technician. How smart is that?! We can't kill him (endangered species), and I wouldn't have the heart to, anyway. BUT I'd rather he take Chuckie's cue and LEAVE.

This is what he looks like, to a "T". The picture and accompanying excerpt comes from the NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation's web site:

Allegheny woodrats have an agreeable disposition around people and are generally docile when handled, and easily captured in live traps. When captured they are usually calm, and often thump their hind feet in response to perceived threats. Woodrats are remarkably unafraid when free ranging and are often in no hurry to head for cover once released. We once watched a woodrat take bait containers from our trapping pack, and have heard of animals trying to remove buttons from a person's shirt and drag away the blanket of a sleeping camper.

Ergo..
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