Nutty intruder surprises Oak Bay couple

Christine Kiss could tell something was wrong the moment she and her husband arrived back at their Oak Bay home from a five-week vacation.

An intruder had trashed the house. 

Items were knocked off shelves in the living room.and kitchen and papers strewn around her husband's den, as if scattered by a leaf blower.

"Oh boy, there was destruction plus," Kiss said. 

But while some valuable silver items were not taken, a nut bowl next to the sofa was completely emptied.

"The shells were strewn all over the floor," Kiss said. "The floor was a glorious mess."

A bowl of peanuts in the dining room was also plundered, as well as two chocolate eggs left over from Easter. 

• Oak Bay residents report 3 more cougar sightings
• Sterilized squirrels win life or death fight with province
• Ground squirrel crashes Edmonton couple's mountain engagement photo shoot

A neighbour advised the couple to call the Oak Bay police.

Two constables attended and searched the house. By then, Kiss was convinced the culprit was not a human intruder. 

The constables were about to leave when they heard a squeak in the laundry area, Kiss said. "Then we heard another squeak and some scratching and she said 'Oh God, that's a squirrel.'"

The officers captured the squirrel with a broom and a bath towel and released it out the back door. 

Kiss said she realizes she and her husband were partly to blame for the squirrel invasion. For months they had been feeding peanuts to two of the local squirrels, which they named Franklin and Wilhelmina. 

"I said to my husband, when we go away, what are those little guys going to do?" she said. "They're so used to us feeding their daily treat, they're going to miss it.

"It was a very foolish thing to do," Kiss says now. 

"I would strongly advise people not to do it, because the amount of mayhem that they made in the house you wouldn't believe."