My Evil Neighbor Shot My Squirrel with a BB Gun

[Bella's Mom]

Earlier this morning my evil next door neighbor shot one of my released male squirrels, Sniffer, with a BB gun when Sniffer was over in her yard!!😭 She fired twice. I was out in my backyard with some of the wild squirrels and 2 of my other released little fuzzers. I had my back to her yard when I heard the first shot. I immediately turned around, but I didn't see anything. I was still looking over in her backyard when she fired the second shot. I saw a squirrel run up her tree, then drop down into some bushes in her yard, but I couldn't see where the squirrel went, or if it was alive or dead. It was also too far away for me to tell who it was that got shot. But I immediately started crying. About an hour later, I found the squirrel in the corner of my yard underneath some foliage on top of my 8 foot picket fence. It was my Sniffer! I tried to get him to come down off the fence to me, but he wouldn't. He was bleeding, terrified, and in a lot of pain! He let me walk up to the fence but if I got too close he would go further underneath the foliage on the fence to where I couldn't see him. When I backed off he would come out from underneath the foliage a little bit to where I could see him a little bit better. His left shoulder and arm area was hit. But I don't know if he was hit anywhere else because I can't see any of his underbelly. But he's not able to move very well. I tried to think of a way to catch him, but he won't let me. There was no way I could get on top of an 8 foot fence. He managed to find his way into the pecan tree in my backyard, where he used to live. He no longer has a nest in the trees in my yard anymore, so I don't know where his nest is now. I don't know if he's physically able to go get into it, wherever it is. His nest could also be in an oak tree in her backpack because there is a nest in that tree, I just don't know whose nest it is. My neighbor has already cut another squirrel's nest down out of another one of her trees the same afternoon that Hurricane Delta hit us, right before the storm hit. She has told me that she's going to shoot every squirrel who comes into her yard. She has installed a security camera in her backyard so she can see if there are squirrels in her yard so she can go out there and shoot them!😭 My poor little Sniffer has just been sitting up, bent forward, in my tree for the past 5 hours, and won't come down. And now it's raining. There's also no way I can get up the tree to get him. I am worried he doesn't have a place to sleep at night, or won't be able to get into his nest, wherever it is. I am terrified for him, and all other squirrels who go into my neighbors yard! I am just beside myself, and sick with worry, that Sniffer won't survive this without treatment. And I don't know how I can catch him. I have been rescuing and releasing squirrels since January 2013, but I don't have any experience at all with this type of injury. Does anyone have experience with this type of injury? Could this cause internal injuries and bleeding? Is it possible for him to survive this without treatment? I also worry that he could possibly go into sepsis and then septic shock if he isn't treated with antibiotics for this injury. I have been crying and trembling ever since I heard my neighbor fire that second shot this morning. I don't have any pictures of Sniffer's injury because I can't get that close to him to take any. I posted this in the non life threatening forum because I have no way of knowing if his injury, or if he has any others, externally or internally. I just don't know what to do. I am just sick at my stomach.

[TubeDriver]

I am so sorry about Sniffer. Your neighbor sounds like a raging sociopath. My stomach feels sick just from reading Sniffer's story.

That type of injury can range from moderately bad but recoverable (low powered BB gun) to lethal (higher powered BB gun or pellet rifle). He might have a BB in his injury that should be removed.

I would do your best to recapture him so you can examine his injury.

I hate to say this, but it sounds like you will need to find a remote release site, at least until your crazy neighbor stops killing wildlife. You may want to try and relocate Sniffer to a remote site away from your neighbor. This is risky as we approach winter (Maybe not an issue in Tx?) but it sounds like Sniffer will not live long if he stays around so you might have to make the least bad decision. Do you have another rehabber nearby that might be able to take Sniffer?

I would also look into the whether shooting wildlife is legal in your area? If you are located near a school for example it may be illegal to discharge any type of firearm including BB guns.

[Chirps]

This is sickening to read. I feel so bad for Sniffer, and for you! WHY do people who help wildlife always seem to have people with a total opposite mindset for neighbors???

My stereotyped impression of TX is that there's not much that can be done about someone wanting to shoot "varmints" in her own yard, but hopefully that's wrong and there are limits like TubeDriver mentioned. If she can't shoot them she might switch to poison. What a nightmare for you!

As for Sniffer's injury/ies, I can only offer an experience we had of a cat who was shot with BBs. He did fine with a pellet close to his spine that the vet decided was too risky to mess with. So there's that. I just hope Sniffer's hurting more than damaged, if that makes sense. What a B----!!!

[Mel1959]

I am very sorry to read this. I hope you can capture Sniffer.

[Rock Monkey]

Consider a Have-A-Heart Trap with a few of Sniffer's favorite foods.

How long has it been since Sniffer was released?

Some people just have no soul.

Relocating the squirrel seems like the best option, particularly if you can supply a nest box, since many leaves have already fallen.

[Bella's Mom]

I am so sorry about Sniffer. Your neighbor sounds like a raging sociopath. My stomach feels sick just from reading Sniffer's story.

That type of injury can range from moderately bad but recoverable (low powered BB gun) to lethal (higher powered BB gun or pellet rifle). He might have a BB in his injury that should be removed.

I would do your best to recapture him so you can examine his injury.

I hate to say this, but it sounds like you will need to find a remote release site, at least until your crazy neighbor stops killing wildlife. You may want to try and relocate Sniffer to a remote site away from your neighbor. This is risky as we approach winter (Maybe not an issue in Tx?) but it sounds like Sniffer will not live long if he stays around so you might have to make the least bad decision. Do you have another rehabber nearby that might be able to take Sniffer?

I would also look into the whether shooting wildlife is legal in your area? If you are located near a school for example it may be illegal to discharge any type of firearm including BB guns.

Well, I stayed outside in my backyard all day Tuesday after I first found Sniffer on top of my picket fence underneath the foliage on top of it. Then when he got in my pecan tree I stayed out there waiting and hoping that he would come down from the tree. At 6pm, I went inside to use the bathroom right quick. When I went to my back door to go back outside, he was on the ground at the base of an oak tree next to a feeding station I have for all the squirrels. He was hunting around on the ground looking for food. I grabbed the blanket I put just inside the back door because my plan was to toss the blanket on top of him whenever he came down from the tree and scoop him up in the blanket. I opened up the back door and went outside with the blanket. I started slowly walking toward him and talking to him in a soft voice. He was still and just sat there and watched me so I was hopeful that I was going to be able to catch him with the blanket. But he still wouldn't let me get close enough to him to even be able to toss the blanket on him. He just turned around and started heading for another tree in my backyard. I followed him but even though he is hurt and moving more slowly than normal, he was scared and still too fast for me to catch up to him, and he just ran up that tree, and I lost sight of him. I went back inside, but stood in front of my back door to see if he came back down so I could try again. But he never came back down and it got dark so I went inside. I kept going outside Tuesday night and looking for him to see if he had fallen down out of the tree anywhere in the yard but he hadn't. And he was not out there at all Wednesday. I was in my backyard again all day Wednesday and Thursday, from sun up until sun down, but he never came. He finally showed back up Friday morning. But he's very skittish, and won't let me get too close to him. If I do he just takes off up a tree or out of my backyard. He doesn't like to be around the other squirrels in my yard. Some of my other released squirrels, as well as some of the wild squirrels in my backyard, will walk right up to me and hang around me, like he has always done, but now he just stays in the corner of my yard near the fence and a tree. He will only come eat where the other squirrels are if I'm inside the house or not very close by. As soon as I start to walk toward him, he leaves. I have been tossing him some rodent block from a distance, and he has been eating that. He got shot with the BB gun in his left arm/chest area. He can't use his left arm very well right now. It just kind of dangles there beside him. I fear I might never be able to recapture him. But I will definitely keep trying my best. I'm not giving up on him. I ordered a Havahart trap to try to catch him in that. It got here today. I don't know if that's going to work because there are always so many squirrels in my yard all the time. But it's the only other thing I can think of to do. I put the trap out today, but he hasn't been here all day.

Yes, my neighbor is a raging sociopath. Tuesday afternoon after she shot Sniffer, she and her live-in boyfriend were involved in a domestic disturbance situation with her ex-husband and his girlfriend. All four of them were knock down drag out physically fighting with each other out in her backyard, house, garage, and front yard. My neighbor's ex-husband's girlfriend called 911 because my neighbor's boyfriend pulled that same BB gun on the ex-husband. But it looks like an actual gun, and the ex-husband and his girlfriend had no way of knowing it was just a BB gun. In about 30 seconds 12 police cars and 18 police officers were here, including the SWAT team! My neighbor and her boyfriend were handcuffed and carted off to jail. I'm not going to lie, I was very happy about that! Hmmm...talk about sweet karma! Shoot a squirrel and you will at least end up going to jail for something! They're both still in jail right now, so I am so thankful that all the squirrels are at least safe from them, for now. I don't live in a bad neighborhood or anything, she's just a bad apple in my neighborhood. I have had several other issues with her and her boyfriend since I moved into my house just over a year ago. Her house was also raided in August by the sheriff's department because apparently she and her boyfriend were selling narcotics out of her house. Both of them were in jail for about a month that time. I also found out from my other next door neighbor that she once had to serve a couple of years in prison in the past for drugs.

Tuesday when all the police officers were here, I did ask an officer if it is legal to shoot a BB gun in your backyard. He stated that it is legal to do so if the BB gun fires at a rate that is under a certain feet per second. I told him what happened earlier that morning with my squirrel. He told me that it is legal to shoot the BB gun in the backyard, but that killing wildlife is not okay (he didn't say it was illegal, he just said that it's not okay), but that I needed to call animal control and report it to them. So I called animal control later in the afternoon on Tuesday, and spoke to an animal control officer (who is also a police officer and, coincidentally, was one of the other many police officers here that day who responded to the domestic disturbance call regarding my neighbor), and he told me the opposite of what the other police officer I spoke with that day told me. He said that it is legal to kill wildlife, but that it is not legal to shoot a BB gun in your backyard. But I have also checked other resources, and I am reading and hearing so much conflicting information regarding killing wildlife and shooting BB guns in your backyard, it's ridiculous. But the police officer I spoke with at animal control basically told me in so many words that he isn't going to do anything about my neighbor shooting her BB gun in her backyard. He said he couldn't come over here and speak to her about it because she's in jail right now, which makes complete sense, but that he's not even going to come over here when she gets out of jail and issue her a citation for shooting her BB gun. He told me that if she does it again to call him back because he needs to actually witness her doing it. He said since he didn't see it himself, even though I was a witness to it happening, he can't issue her a citation, which is absolutely not true! I kept probing him and he finally ended up telling me that because he didn't see it, but I did, all he can do is issue her a warning and tell her to stop. But he's not even going to do that. He gave me some run around story about some how people don't know you can't shoot a BB gun in your backyard, and he wanted to "establish a pattern" before he even came out here to give her a warning, but that me just calling to report it was establishing a pattern. So translation -- "I'm lazy, this is not important to me, and I don't want to deal with it, so I'm not going to." There's no way if she starts shooting her BB gun again and I call him back, that he would get here in time to see her doing it. I can't even get it on video to show him because I can't see through or over my picket fence into her yard. So nothing is going to become of it, I'm sure. But if she does do it again, I will still call every time she does it. But meanwhile, more squirrels are going to be shot and probably killed because of her! It's just so upsetting, frustrating, and stressful!

I'm not sure if releasing Sniffer somewhere else would be risky or not. Where I live in Texas, it doesn't really get cold here until December and the leaves on the trees don't start to fall off until then, either. There are still some nuts and acorns in the trees right now, but I don't know how long that particular food source is going to last. If I can recapture him, I don't want to release him again until his arm is healed and he can use it again better than he can now. And I don't know how long that's going to take. I don't know any other rehabbers personally who are close by. The closest wildlife rehab facility is about an hour away from me. I could contact them and see if they can take him and release him there. But isn't that too far away for him to be able to establish a new home? I would be willing to take him there to get him away from my neighbor if that's not too far away for him to go.

[Charley Chuckles]

First I'm so sorry for what you and Sniffer have been through with that EVIL neighbor🤬 karma did find her and I hope that jail keeps her locked up permanently!

Guess your first plan of attack is to try to catch him. He may need medical treatment, do you have a safe vet?
He may need to stay inside or overwintered till recovered, hopefully no broken bones.
It could be possible he would not be releasable and would end up living with you.

Just all possibilities.
I'm praying you can catch him and if you can I'm sure in time he will calm down knowing he is safe again.
Praying for you and Sniffer

[Mel1959]

Your story is indeed sad and frustrating. I’m sorry that you and Sniffer are going through it.

If you can capture Sniffer I would get him well before you take him anywhere. If he is incapacitated in any way a rehab facility may euthanize because they don’t want to take the time to get him well.

Do you have a vet? If not, I’d start calling around to see if any vet will see him. Focus your vet efforts on practices that see birds and exotics. When you call if they respond matter of factly in the affirmative about seeing him then I’d be cautiously optimistic. If they are evasive with a bunch of questions then I’d hang up. Vets that deal specifically with wildlife might be required to turn Sniffer over to the authorities or euthanize depending on your state laws.

As for relocating him that distance. I think with a proper slow release he might be fine. Others that have more insight into that situation might be better able to tell you.

[HRT4SQRLS]

What a bunch of reprobates! I’m very surprised with the history of these thugs that they own a house. Do they own the home? Do they rent? I would be checking the county records. Spending time in jail isn’t usually compatible with working and paying a mortgage. Of course if their income comes from drugs or other illegal activities who worries about work. Hopefully they will get time in prison and they will lose the house. I would do all I could to make that happen. I would report every code violation or whatever.

Eventually houses like this (drug houses) are abandoned and sold. There is a beautiful house in front of my brother. Very nice neighbor. The house sold and suspicious people moved in. My brother could see them peeking out of the barn on the property watching him. Who does that? He knew illegal activity was going on in the barn. Sure enough, one day the police raided the place. They turned this beautiful property into a grow house. The place stayed vacant for years and it was vandalized. Eventually someone bought it for great price and restored it. You can always hope that they lose the house.

Neighbors are the worst.

I would not relocate Sniffer. It’s possible that he might be able to live with the BB. Depending on the location, sometimes BB’s, bullets and other metal fragments are left in place if the risk of removal is greater than the benefit of leaving it alone. Your providing him food and water is critical to his survival right now. He doesn’t need to be foraging for food right now. Catching him would be ideal but it might not happen unless his condition deteriorates.

[TubeDriver]

I agree that a BB lodged inside can just be left in place in some instances but the description of the arm dangling uselessly a full week+ later requires a hands-on exam to see what is going on IMHO. Can you try to trap him with a hav-a-hart trap? He will certainly need all the extra treats/food/water you can get to him so he does not have to forage in his weakened condition.

[CrazyCatLady]

What county do you live in?

[Rock Monkey]

I would suggest going down to the courthouse and doing some research on your neighbor. Criminal and civil cases are public records, which anybody can ask to see them and in most state the requestor is not required to identify themselves or say why they want to see these records. You should be able to Google to see where Texas stands on such matters. Do this Google research in advance because the people at the court house may tell you differently.

The first thing I would do however is to access the property tax records. Find out who own the house. This will also give you the proper spelling of their names which is critical to looking up the civil and criminal records.

I would not be surprised if there were not criminal records between the four individuals that were arrested during the domestic disturbance. Any charges filed against them will also be a public record.

It is good to know who you are living next to. This information may also help you get a more productive response from the authorities that you have contacted.