George Pottorf, watch commander out of the Ocala officer, said Wildes stepped in and rescued the squirrel. He was able to revive the waterlogged squirrel. Bartelt told officers the squirrel had been eating his garden. He could have caught it and taken it to another area and released it. Pottorf said a big part of the commission's duties nowadays have to do with non-game wildlife.
People get upset Florida is changing and the population is growing.
With more people living in amongst the wildlife, it's creating these kind of problems. The commission came about with the merger of the Florida Marine Patrol and the Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission. It's now the largest conservation force in the nation, with some 700 officers. As for the squirrel, it remained in the wire cage Wednesday, calmly waiting for the moment the two officers would release it back into the wild.