Critter saver

When I opened the swimming pool earlier this year, I had to deal with a cover that had partially fallen in. When I finally got it pulled-out.. there were 5 dead critters that had fallen in and drowned. Three squirrels and two chipmunks..

More recently; Lynne saw a squirrel swimming for its life... and scooped it out with the pole/net. It was so exhausted/traumatized.. that it laid still for over 15 min. Several days later I was looking out the back slider-door and saw the pool water "agitating".. then saw another critter (squirrel) trying to get out. I don't know how long it'd been in there.. so I ran out to grab the pole/net.. and just then; it was able to grab onto the pool-ladder and pull itself out on its own.

A few days ago.. I opened the skimmer cover to check the basket for debris.. and there was a squirrel curled-up drowned in there.

It SUCKS.. you know? We've had this heat-wave.. and the poor critters are just trying to hydrate.. and end up dying in the worst way.

A couple weeks ago, I made the mistake of leaving a 5 gal. bucket half-full of water on the back deck.. and found a chipmunk had drowned in there the following day.

I decided to search the web for preventive measures for the swimming pool.. and got some ideas. I could easily make something that should work better than other things that I had tried in the past.

Here's what I came up with..





I cut a "foam" (buoyant) 24" X 24" anti-fatigue floor-mat tile in half.. and sandwiched 1/4" plywood rails for stiffeners in-between for the platform... which I then covered with a piece of fiberglass window-screen for the critter(s) to grab with their little claws. Then I made a 1/4" plywood ramp that I covered with a piece of rubber matting designed to trap sand/dirt.. and finally; a piece of 2" X 4" for a weight to hang-over the outer pool-wall. It's lightweight enough for Lynne to easily remove it.. when she wants.