“It about made me jump out of my skin.”
A few autumns ago in Michigan, Joseph Mader came home to an unusual surprise waiting near his front door. As he walked toward the house, something odd scurried across the ground.
“At first, I thought it was a bundle of trash blowing around,” Mader told The Dodo. But it wasn’t garbage at all — it was furry.
He soon realized the moving “plastic” was actually a fox squirrel, and its tail was completely twisted up with sticks and debris.
Wanting to help the poor animal, Mader grabbed thick gloves and carefully scooped the squirrel up. It was sticky, smelly and clearly terrified — the moment Mader touched it, the squirrel shrieked and tried to bite.
Mader gently began working on the tangled mess — and suddenly, a second squirrel’s head popped out.
“There’s another one in here!” Mader exclaimed in a TikTok video, shocked as a whole second squirrel emerged. Its tail was knotted in the same giant clump.
The situation the Maders had stumbled upon is known as a “squirrel king” — a rare moment when multiple squirrels become trapped together by their tails. The more they struggle, the worse the knot becomes.
Realizing he needed help, Joseph called to his wife, Lindsay, who rushed outside. While Joseph held a squirrel in each hand, Lindsay slowly unwound their tails.
“They were both hurting, so they kept trying to fight each other,” Lindsay told The Dodo. But at last, she freed them — and both squirrels scampered off into the woods. The couple figured that was the end of their bizarre encounter.
They were mistaken.
Not long after, during a cold and rainy night, Joseph heard frantic squeals outside a window. One of the squirrels had returned — dangling helplessly from the frame. His injured tail had made climbing impossible, and he seemed to be asking the only humans who’d helped him before for another chance.
The next morning, the couple brought him to wildlife rehabilitator Erica Zuhlke at Critter Crossing Rehabilitation. His tail had suffered from lack of circulation for too long, so part of it needed to be removed to save his life.
The little survivor — soon nicknamed Tangles by a TikTok fan — recovered well after surgery. Zuhlke later introduced him to another young fox squirrel so he could learn natural squirrel skills again.
Tangles adapted better than anyone expected. Even with a shorter tail, he was lively, confident and a little bit sassy.
Before long, he was ready to return to the wild with his new squirrel friend by his side — racing up trees and living the life he was always meant to have.
“The plan was always freedom,” Zuhlke shared. “Watching him take off into the trees, you realize he’s going to be just fine.”