Comments by "Eric Astier" (@ericastier1646) on "1981: SAMMY, the SQUIRREL as TOUGH as a CAT | Squirrel on My Shoulder | BBC Archive" video.

  1. His offspring might be jumping tree branches as you wrote that.
    4
  2. That is such a beautiful story.
    3
  3.  @redwoodrebelgirl3010  It could have been re-enacted a few days after the real discovery when John decided he would make a video story with it.
    3
  4. Still possible. All that was filmed could have been re enacted just a few days after each real event (including the discovery of the baby squirrel).
    3
  5.  @chescarockwellgabriel  This was filmed in the 1980's you confuse television studio video broadcasting equipment (massive) and film or even VHS cameras (which were already portable though bulky and personal in the early 1980's). Also it would have been easy for him to stage each chapter of this story and film it just after it had actually happened. For example the discovery of the squirrel with the dog could be staged just after it actually happened he went back home get his camera, come back, put the baby squirrel where he discovered it and act monitoring his dog to "find" the squirrel again. Same for the coming back home of the squirrel. Was not filmed when it happened but the next few days squirrel would have returned making it easy to film it.
    3
  6. Probably he took a habit to come by the window after that. Of course this was not the first return when it was filmed but still the true story.
    2
  7. It was tough love. John's instinct was right, it was that moment or never to give the squirrel his best chance at survival. Had he stayed indoors and become an adult he would have become impossible to keep and would have had ended his days in an enclosure in a zoo at the best. So John deserves all the praise.
    2
  8. It was really the best of circumstances. I believe the kittens and mama cat were crucial in raising a mentally healthy squirrel with models of his size to develop healthy habits for an animal of his size. The release timing was absolutely perfect, before he became an adult.
    2
  9. or just disconnect it.
    1
  10.  @heythisisminenotyours  You must be one of the pigs.
    1
  11. Yet they release Gorillas and chimp in the UK these days and they arrive from Dover or land by plane.
    1
  12. I used to have a bird feeder that i cleaned regularly as it was assaulted by grey squirrels. But the strong acrid smell was from the birds guano. It actually smells like fertilizers and minerals, chemicaly but not in a bad way. As for the squirrel my guess is no smell.
    1