Freeing animals from sticky traps

[Titan Uranus]

I'm not really sure where this ought to go, but I suppose this is the best place for it.

Last weekend my step-brother and I were doing some yardwork for a friend of the family (a heartbreakingly sweet old lady, such that were she a character in a movie, she'd definitely die in the third act to add some tragedy), when Mrs. Heartmelter comes up to us and says something to the effect of: "There's something caught in a trap by the pool, with my old eyes I can't tell whether it's a bird or a squirrel."

See, she'd been having a squirrel problem, and she had called an exterminator, who had laid out some sticky traps, she had asked him something along the lines of "are you sure that's the best thing to do" (meaning morally) and the extermenator said something like "yeah, they'll be caught fast and then you can just throw them away." I'm not exactly an animal lover, but I still wouldn't let one starve to death.

Anyway, as soon as I heard her call us back there I grabed a hoe because I've had experience with sticky traps and I fully expected to have to kill whatever animal was back there.

Once we got back there, it turned out that the trap had somehow caught a sparrow.
(The pool is fully enclosed by a wire screen, and I couldn't find any openings, so I'm not really sure how the poor sparrow got in.)

In any case, the bird was roughly upright, so in the name of the sensabilites of Mrs. Heartmelter and my 14 y/o stepbrother I attempted to free the creature's right leg without breaking it (with work gloves on) I was able it do this (and the sparrow did not complain). Unfortunately as soon as I got one leg free and then moved to get leverage, the sparrow fluttered and fell, sticking its entire right side beak to tailfeathers to the trap, whereupon it screamed.

After that, it was obvious that I wasn't going to get any leverage (maybe I should have tried to push it off, but I'm pretty sure that would have killed it anyway on account of the pressure.) and so I took the poor thing out back, chopped its head off with a shovel, and buried it.


So my two questions for the board are:
1. Does anyone know of a good way to get animals off of sticky traps? (I doubt it, but I ought to ask.)
2. Does anyone know of a better/similarly effective way to trap squirrels/chipmunks than sticky traps? Because Mrs. Heartmelter threw away all of the sticky traps that afternoon and she still has a squirrel problem.

[Khaat]

1. Quick Google search got me this. Info? Yes. Gruesome self-launching video or gif? No thank you!

If you encounter an animal who’s stuck to a glue trap, pour a small amount of cooking oil or baby oil onto the stuck areas (avoiding the animal’s nose and mouth) and gently work the animal free.

2. Live animal traps (humane box traps or cages) work. The next issue becomes, who's doing what with the critter after it's trapped?

Prevention is always better:

- Eliminate food sources. Keep counter surfaces, floors, and cabinets clean, and store dry food in chew-proof containers. Seal trash cans and never feed your animal companions outside.
- Ammonia-soaked cotton balls or rags will drive mice and rats out (they hate the smell). Place them in areas where the animals, their droppings, or nests have been seen, and be sure to give them a few days to leave.
- To keep unwelcome “visitors” out, seal entry points using foam sealant, steel wool, hardware cloth, or metal flashing.

[Napoleon the Clown]

Speculating here, but I bet capsaicin on food squirrels like to eat would do something about the little bastards. Birds are immune, squirrels are not.

[Broomstick]

We had a parrot get stuck on a sticky trap once. We eventually got him off - but he lost nearly every feather on that side of his body. They grew back but man, that was a horrible, horrible evening. That was with a tame bird who knew us and trusted us - I'm doubtful a wild bird would survive the stress of such an ordeal with a Godzilla-sized potential bird-predator (which would be about how a sparrow sees one of us).

Giving the animal a swift death was better than some of the alternatives I could imagine.

[Tsyroc]

So my two questions for the board are:
1. Does anyone know of a good way to get animals off of sticky traps? (I doubt it, but I ought to ask.)
2. Does anyone know of a better/similarly effective way to trap squirrels/chipmunks than sticky traps? Because Mrs. Heartmelter threw away all of the sticky traps that afternoon and she still has a squirrel problem.

I've used mineral oil to release a mouse from a sticky trap. It looked a bit greased up after I did so but it was free.

No idea on the second.

When I had squirrel/chipmunk issues I tried to come up with stuff to drive them away. I think I put red pepper down the burrow hole that was under my front step. It seemed to help a bit but I think the neighborhood cats probably drove them off more than I did. I never saw any snakes but saw several cats hanging out in my yard.

[Jaepheth]

Speculating here, but I bet capsaicin on food squirrels like to eat would do something about the little bastards. Birds are immune, squirrels are not.

My understanding is that capsaicin evolved to make mammals avoid those fruit and select for bird dispersion; since, as you say, birds don't have the receptors for it.
Adding it to squirrel food would just make food nothing but roaches wants to eat.

this site suggests using oil to soften and remove glue.
But from your description it sounds like that poor bird was totally screwed.

[Elheru Aran]

I'm not sure what exactly the squirrels are eating, but I might suggest making a strong solution of pepper juice (basically, buy one of those baggies of dried hot peppers from the grocery store, put in about a gallon of boiling water and let sit a few hours, strain out the peppers) and spray it around the yard. That should do the job as far as keeping squirrels out.