City tree cutter saves baby squirrels in Lincoln Park

OLEAN Todd Fries of Southern Tier Tree Service was 50 feet in the air cutting near the top of a diseased maple tree Monday in Lincoln Park when a squirrel leaped out of the hollow tree and landed 20 feet away in a nearby tree.

It startled Fries but reminded him that there could be baby squirrels in the hollow of the tree. The adult squirrel that had scampered away watched from behind a branch of a nearby tree.

Fries had earlier removed a green squirrel house from the same tree, but nothing jumped out, and he didnt look to see if there were any baby squirrels inside before carefully lowering it to the ground.

After looking down into the hollow of the tree and spotting the baby squirrels amid pieces of shredded paper and plastic and a fair amount of sawdust Fries made a cut with the chainsaw about 2 feet from the top,

below where he estimated the baby squirrels were located.

Then he lifted the section of tree onto the bucket of the cherry picker and gently lowered it to the ground. He then hefted the log with the squirrels into his arms and carried it to the base of a nearby tree.

He parted the sawdust to reveal two of the baby squirrels with light coats of grey fur. Their eyes appeared to still be closed.

They made tiny squeaking noises. Fries, who presumably has seen his share of squirrels while trimming and removing trees over the years, said they were trying to contact their mother, who would return and take them to a safer place when no one was around.

The tree service has a contract with the city of Olean for tree trimming and removal of dangerous trees.

(Contact reporter Rick Miller at rmiller@oleantimesherald.com. Follow him on Twitter, @RMillerOTH)

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City tree cutter saves baby squirrels in Lincoln Park