Squirrel On A Plane
Earlier today, pilots aboard an American Airlines flight traveling from Tokyo to Dallas heard unusual noises coming from the wires above the cockpit. According to John Hotard, AA's spokesman, "You do not want a varmint up in the wiring areas and what-have-you on an airplane. You don't want anything up there." Unsure what kind of varmint might be up in the what-have-you, the pilots decided to stop in Honolulu to investigate.
The varmint turned out to be an eastern gray squirrel. Neither AA nor the Agriculture Department can explain how the squirrel accessed the plane, though I'm suspicious it might have something to do with TSA's less than watchful eye.
In the end, the human passengers were provided hotel rooms and rebooked on other flights. The squirrel enjoyed a far less pleasant Hawaii visit, however. Fearing it may have been carrying rabies, authorities had the rodent killed.
[Photo: Terry Lea]
Filed under: Airlines













Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Feb 15th 2007 @ 8:09PM
Stylish girl said...
Hey! You've got a nice squirrel!:-)
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Feb 16th 2007 @ 11:20PM
Kevin Parker said...
Here's a lead for a good follow-up story regarding the Stowaway Squirrel that invaded Hawaii. Evidently, an eastern gray squirrel (S.carolinensis) placed so much fear in the hearts of both state and federal government officials, the taskforce ordered the squirrel killed and an autopsy performed.
The results of the autopsy were released today, February 16th. and suprisingly the squirrel tested negative for rabies.
Of course both the State of Hawaii and the United States Federal Government knew prior to ordering the taskforce to carry out the execution, that the reults would be negative.
The reason it was already known that the rabies test would be negative is: There is no record or evidence anywhere in the United States of any squirrel ever infecting a human with rabies. Neither are squirrels known to pass rabies on to any other living creature. It just doesn't happen. One of God's little mysteries.
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Apr 1st 2008 @ 12:33PM
Terri said...
This is not surprising, that the squirrels came up negative for rabies.....they cannot get or carry rabies!
Cats, dogs, raccoons,horses, goats, cows, and people can get rabies, but spuirrels cannot. So, killing that little guy was not something that needed to be done!
They should know their stuff before they snuff!
Feb 13th 2008 @ 1:44PM
val said...
Why the heck did they kill it? If they'd just quarantined it a week or so, they'd know it wasn't carrying rabies and could have set it free in a wooded area away from planes. Geez.
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Mar 16th 2008 @ 11:14AM
Russell said...
Well since Squirrels are not native to the islands it would cause a whole host of problems to release it. Just look at the frogs and snakes that have been released or gotten out and you will see what i mean
Apr 2nd 2008 @ 7:43AM
Freeman Z said...
M-O-N-E-Y. They don't have any problem with killing when the alternative might require stretching their feeble minds.
Feb 17th 2008 @ 7:09AM
Scott said...
Rodents can't carry rabies.
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Feb 17th 2008 @ 12:09PM
Craig said...
WRONG ANSWER......ANY MAMMAL CAN CARRY RABIES, EVEN THOUGH IT'S RARE IN SOME SPECIES!!!
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Mar 16th 2008 @ 11:51AM
Carmen said...
you are wrong
rodents temp is to high for them to carry rabies
Apr 2nd 2008 @ 7:43AM
Freeman Z said...
Source, please.
FOR GAWD SAKES ...SOMEONE CITE A FREAKIN' SOURCE!
What a degenerate "debate!"
wah wah wah!
Feb 21st 2008 @ 5:55PM
andiey said...
Hello, Squirrels don't carry rabies. Someone needs to tell them instead of killing the poor little animals.
Next time call the Health Department. They're smarter than you are.
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Feb 22nd 2008 @ 11:13PM
Kathy Lamandia said...
You have to take precautions when coming into contact with any type of creature, even your own pets. That's why they get shots. Quarantining the squirrel would not have been an option because if it had rabies, then everyone who was on the plane would have had to make sure to get medical treatment and a clean bill of health from their own doctors. I don't like the fact that the squirrel was killed, but I understand the reasoning. By the way squirrels can carry the bubonic plague.
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Feb 23rd 2008 @ 12:06AM
Paxrail said...
Yep that's what Hawaii needs: another invasive foreign species released into the already severely altered habitats there, and one of the most destructive rodent species there is to boot.
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Feb 24th 2008 @ 3:05PM
DangerD said...
Its an invasive species in Hawaii. There are no squirrels here that i know of and they don't invite new species of anything ever since the whole, " Hay lets use mongoose to kill the rats!" deal. Kind of funny because rats are nocturnal and mongoose are not. Smart "officials" we have here.
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Feb 24th 2008 @ 11:57PM
Lisa said...
F-ing idiots! Squirrels DO NOT CARRY RABIES. How sad that the poor little thing was butchered needlessly. This breaks my heart. My family are squirrel-lovers. They are very friendly and trusting little animals.
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Feb 25th 2008 @ 12:02AM
Lisa said...
Give me a break! When is the last time you heard of a squirrel causing bubonic plague? Also, killing the squirrel and testing it for rabies was very stupid. A dead animal may test negative for rabies ... which means nothing. If the disease is incubating, it would not show up as positive for several days to several weeks. It would have been wiser to keep the animal alive. Then again, non of this would make any difference because SQUIRRELS DO NOT CARRY RABIES.
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Mar 5th 2008 @ 2:29PM
rufus said...
YO, ANIMAL LOVERS, GET A FREAKING LIFE.
do you know most animals, dogs, cats, gerbals, gold fish, hamsters, ect all taste good after thet have been par-boiled and grilled?
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Mar 11th 2008 @ 8:31PM
ericshow08 said...
Now that AA has "EXTERMINATED" a world reknown world traveler or Varmint as they called him...by the way his name was Arnold the squirell....he was obviously better known as secret agent 008..highly trained,experienced, traveled and technically adept at scaling tall buildings in a single leap, flying through the air and keeping our country safe from the TSA and a lot of it's thieving, lazy, and leeching of the world passengers employees...but acolades to AA for coming to the supposed rescue of our country by killing off a quiet cute little squirell...just one more of our "God's" creatures ..GONE..by some stupid corporations decision.....Right...It was just a squirell....a rodent..a "Varmint"...Screw American Airlines....Let's all BOYCOTT the airline..let's see what they think about that....There could have been a better decision to get the squirell off the plane out of the wiring (which could have been a real problem) but in today's world everything is getting out of hand....so why not this? Enough is Enough people....
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Mar 12th 2008 @ 9:30AM
Donna said...
I believe there was a issue of the bubonic plague with squirrels and praire dogs ( previously named the barking squirrel by Lewis & Clark) which is a type of ground squirrel in the Denver, CO area.
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Mar 12th 2008 @ 2:02PM
maggiemay said...
Makes me sick to hear they killed the squirrel & why to make it easier on them to get the flight going? What heartless idiots we have running things. Guess the squirrel had no tits & ass to flash the pilot!! Poor little guy.
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