JOEY

POLICE REPORT PET SQUIRREL GOES NUTS ON BURGLAR

- Bill Hangley Jr.

JOEY ISN'T YOUR TYPICAL GUARD PET. He's not a hulking German shepherd or brawny Doberman pinscher. He's a squirrel, a rodent. But he's certainly no pest-unless you try to break into his house. Then he's a world of trouble.

Adam Pearl found a baby squirrel orphaned in his yard in Meridian, Idaho. He decided to take him in and named him Joey. Pearl set an alarm to bottle-feed Joey every two hours. Joey learned to use a litter box and graduated to a diet of nuts and greens. In just a few months, he became a fixture in the house.

"He'd let anybody pet him," says Pearl. "Right up until the kid broke in."