Squirrels hid in car for six weeks
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
A US woman who found a nest of squirrels under the bonnet of her car may have driven around with them for up to six weeks.

Correna Daughtrey found the baby squirrels and their mother when she opened the bonnet to check an empty windscreen washer fluid tank.

The tank had a hole gnawed in it and the nest was beside it.

Ms Daughtrey, from Niceville in Florida, drove to an animal clinic to have the squirrels removed, but the mother ran into some woods behind the building before she could be caught, leaving her babies behind.

"That night I went home from work and there was a squirrel up in the tree barking and carrying on," she said.

"I thought, 'I have to get her to her babies'. She would have torn up the inside of my car."

Ms Daughtrey retrieved one the babies from the clinic and used it to lure the mother into a trap. She then took the mother to the clinic.

"She wanted that baby, and she was so happy," said vet Dr Jenny Fortune. She said the babies could have been in the car since they were born.

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