A woman who rescued a "daft squirrel" from a supposed rodent proof bird feeder says she wore oven gloves as protection.

Deb O’Brien, 58, laughed to News Shopper about being "squeamish" with rodents but said she summoned the courage to rescue the squirrel.

The squirrel got stuck in the bird feeder on Wednesday (August 14) when Deb was out shopping.

"I came back from shopping and I could see the squirrel inside," Deb said. "I went out 10 minutes later and it was still not moving and was struggling to get out."

Deb said baby squirrels often go in and out of the bird feeder but said this squirrel must have overeaten.

"I was panicking a bit because I’m a bit squeamish with rodents," she laughed. "But I thought if I don’t rescue it then it will probably die and that will be even worse."

Deb added: "I thought the worse that could happen was it would bite so I put on oven gloves."

The clumsy squirrel eventually squirmed out when the feeder was opened and placed on the floor.

Deb said the squirrel saga lasted 20 minutes and she has no idea how long it was stuck.

She took the first photo to share with her family when she didn’t initially realise the squirrel could not escape.

News Shopper:

The squirrel appeared uninjured and managed to flee.

However, Deb had to grab one of her cats from killing the squirrel once it had scuppered free.

"I have two cats because I'm scared of mice," she laughed. 

Deb hopes the squirrel will have learnt its lesson and will not try to infiltrate the bird feed ever again.

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