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Squirrel fills truck with thousands of nuts, more than owner's seen before

It's been happening every second year since 2013, but this year, the rodent went for a record

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Bill Fischer has a squirrel problem. 

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Every second fall season when a nearby walnut tree reaches maturity, a local red squirrel uses Fischer’s Chevrolet Avalanche as a pantry for its hibernation food supply, filling all of its available corners and cubbies with the large nuts. The Fargo, North Dakota resident has been battling the common rodent and its nut-gathering habits for nearly a decade. 

“I’ve got other vehicles that sit very close to that tree, and it’s always my truck,” Fischer told The Washington Post . “I’ve even parked purposely out on the street — as far away as I can from the walnut tree — and they still go find the Avalanche and hide them in there.”

This year, the ambitious critter squirrelled away a full 42 gallons (160 L) of the yellow husked black walnuts, each a little larger than a golf ball, in the truck’s engine bay and fenders. Fischer personally removed each of the nuts, collecting them in a number of buckets and listing them to Facebook .

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A Chevrolet Avalanche filled with nuts by a squirrel in North Dakota, in September 2021
A Chevrolet Avalanche filled with nuts by a squirrel in North Dakota, in September 2021 Photo by Bill Fischer /Facebook

“Hey, come and get your all natural Black Walnuts!” he wrote in the post. “42 gallons available. Naturally grown and now industry 1st, all hand (paw) picked by a squirrel, Red Squirrel to be exact. Hurry as these may have a limited availability as l hear the hard working furry tree dweller might be retiring soon due to health reasons! Also the squirrel is dealing with a caustic work environment due to a relentless micromanaging supervisor of the canine type.”

Fischer had already removed a number of nuts from the vehicle weeks ago before heading out of town for a few days, but when he returned, he found his work undone and then some. This year’s was the largest bounty yet.