Outhouse outlaw: squirrel turns toilet-paper bandit in mountain park
Wallis Snowdon | CBC News | Posted: August 16, 2017 7:13 PM | Last Updated: August 16, 2017
'There he was, pulling the roll out from under the door — pulling and pulling and pulling'
Christa Lawrence is still laughing after a mischievous little red squirrel raided her campsite's toilet-paper supply.
Lawrence and her family had just pulled into the Upper Shunda Creek Campground in Nordegg, Alta., last weekend when they realized they were being raided.
A squirrel was going nutty for the supply of single-ply TP in the men's outhouse.
The critter had crawled inside and grabbed the end of the roll, and was unravelling it feverishly.
Lawrence had never seen anything like it.
"My dad saw him first and started laughing, completely uncontrollably. And I just looked over and there he was, pulling the roll out from under the door — pulling and pulling and pulling.
"We had just returned from a day of fishing and adventuring and pulled back into our campground and that's what we got to come home to."
- 'It still fits': Diamond ring missing since 2004 turns up on garden carrot
- Pocket-dial summons RCMP to rescue Alberta hiker from bear encounter
Lawrence said the squirrel returned a dozen times over the next few hours to grab fresh bundles of toilet paper before scurrying back into the woods.
'Clearly he'd done this before'
After the supply in the men's outhouse was exhausted, the squirrel started thieving from the women's facilities.
Lawrence's daughter grabbed her phone to make sure the entire heist was caught on camera. She posted the video to Facebook and got thousands of views in a matter of days, with the title, "Ferocious wildlife."
The toilet-paper bandit has not deterred Lawrence and her family from one of their favourite Alberta campgrounds. They'll be making the trip from Red Deer next weekend and will be requesting the same spot.
Lawrence likes to think the little guy has the plushest nest in the whole forest.
"We're figuring that he's nesting, getting ready for winter," she said. "Clearly he'd done this before."