{"id":319033,"date":"2025-11-28T17:59:26","date_gmt":"2025-11-28T17:59:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/319033\/"},"modified":"2025-11-28T17:59:26","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T17:59:26","slug":"man-goes-to-help-squirrel-with-a-tangled-tail-then-another-face-pops-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/319033\/","title":{"rendered":"Man Goes To Help Squirrel With A Tangled Tail \u2014 Then Another Face Pops Out"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few years ago on an autumn day in Michigan, Joseph Mader arrived home to an unexpected visitor. As he walked up to his house, something strange darted across his path.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt looked like garbage bags or plastic,\u201d Mader told The Dodo. It was also furry.<\/p>\n

Mader realized the moving \u201cbag\u201d was actually a fox squirrel with a nest of debris tangled in his tail.<\/p>\n

Joseph Mader<\/p>\n

Knowing the little animal needed help, Mader put on a pair of thick gloves and picked up the struggling squirrel.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was very, very sticky and smelly,\u201d Mader said. \u201cHe instantly started screaming and biting me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recognizing the animal must be in pain, Mader tried to untangle the tail from the debris. Moments later, he got the surprise of a lifetime: A squirrel head popped out of the mess.<\/p>\n

Joseph Mader<\/p>\n

\u201cAh! There’s another one!\u201d Mader shouts in a video posted to TikTok. \u201cWhat am I gonna do?\u201d<\/p>\n

An entire second squirrel, who Mader said \u201cabout made me jump out of my skin,\u201d had been hidden in the clump, his own tail tangled in the debris.<\/p>\n

At this point, Mader called his wife, Lindsay, for backup.<\/p>\n

What the Maders encountered is called a \u201csquirrel king.\u201d It happens when squirrel tails get knotted together with debris, sap or other items. As they squirm to get away from each other, it makes the knot worse.<\/p>\n

Squirrel kings aren\u2019t common, though the Dane County Humane Society<\/a> encountered a similar situation a few weeks ago \u2014 but it was only their third in 15 years.<\/p>\n

Joseph Mader<\/p>\n

Lindsay set to work untangling the squirrels her husband captured. \u201cHe held one in each hand, and I started unwrapping their tails from one another,\u201d Lindsay told The Dodo. \u201cThey both were in a lot of pain, which is why I think that they were fighting one another.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finally, Lindsay separated them and both squirrels ran off. The Maders figured their squirrel adventure was over.<\/p>\n

They were wrong.<\/p>\n

Shortly after, during a cold, rainy night, Mader heard loud screeches coming from a window in their home. Dangling from the frame with a badly mangled tail was one of the squirrels they\u2019d saved earlier.<\/p>\n

Lindsay Mader<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was almost like he was asking for help,\u201d Mader said. The next morning, they rushed him to Erica Zuhlke at Critter Crossing Rehabilitation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Lindsay Mader<\/p>\n

\u201cHis tail had [been] cut off from circulation for quite some time,\u201d Zuhkle told The Dodo. \u201cIt can be fatal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zuhlke gave the squirrel pain medication and antibiotics, but eventually determined partially amputating the tail would be the best course of action.<\/p>\n

Critter Crossing Rehabilitation<\/p>\n

The stars aligned for the squirrel, whom a TikTok commenter named Tangles. After a successful surgery to remove the damaged portion of his tail, Zuhlke paired him up with another fox squirrel, who was his same age.<\/p>\n

The two buddies quickly bonded and learned how to be squirrels together.<\/p>\n

\"click<\/p>\n

Squirrels rely on their tails for balance, warmth and to send messages to each other.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a part of me that was concerned that he wouldn\u2019t adapt,\u201d Zuhlke said. \u201cBut he did really well. He was a very sassy squirrel.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Maders\u2019 quick thinking and dedication saved a tiny life. Tangles\u2019 rehabilitation went smoothly and he was released back into the wild, where he could climb trees and continue exploring.<\/p>\n

Critter Crossing Rehabilitation<\/p>\n

\u201cThe plan from the very beginning was always to release him with friends,\u201d Zuhlke said. \u201cAfter you release squirrels and you watch how they run about and climb super tall trees, all your worries kinda just go away and you know that they\u2019re going to thrive out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Moose<\/a>Moose Stumbles Through Town Dragging A Bizarre Object From His AntlersHe couldn\u2019t see where he was going \ud83e\udece<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A few years ago on an autumn day in Michigan, Joseph Mader arrived home to an unexpected visitor.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":319034,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[616,614,79,53911,163422,163421,615,613,201,620],"class_list":["post-319033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-daily-dodo","tag-sarah-ashley","tag-science","tag-squirrel","tag-squirrel-king","tag-squirrel-rescue","tag-standard","tag-the-dodo","tag-wildlife","tag-wildlife-rescue"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=319033"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319033\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/319034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=319033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=319033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=319033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}