New York Mail Carrier Interrupts Her Route Just To Save A Helpless Animal Stuck In Storm Drain

It was an ordinary workday for Kailey Chase, a mail carrier with the U.S. Postal Service in New York, until something unusual caught her eye. 

As she strolled along her route in the afternoon sun, she spotted what looked like a fluffy ball resting on a storm grate. 

At first, she assumed it was just a bit of debris or maybe a tuft of fur carried by the wind – but as she got closer, the “fluff” moved.

Peering down, Chase saw a little squirrel looking up at her with tired eyes. Something seemed off. She shared in an interview:

“As I got closer, I realized that it was stuck in the grate. It looked like he or she had totally given up.”

Her heart sank. The poor thing’s tail had somehow become wedged between the metal bars, and the tiny squirrel seemed too exhausted to keep struggling. 

Chase knew she couldn’t just walk away. She said:

“At first it tried to squirm around as I came near it. Which is when I actually realized that it was really stuck in there, and all I can think is, ‘How in the world was it able to get stuck like that?’”

In her nearly ten years as a mail carrier, Chase had seen a lot – dogs chasing mail trucks, raccoons rummaging through bins – but never something quite like this. 

Determined to help, she slipped off her sweater to use as a makeshift blanket, wanting to keep the little squirrel warm and calm.

Then came the tricky part. The tail was jammed tight, and the grate itself was incredibly heavy. Chase didn’t want to pull and risk hurting the animal. She said:

“I didn’t want to yank on the poor thing and risk hurting it. I tried taking a gentle approach, but of course those grates are super heavy and I was worried if I moved it around too much that with my luck, the grate would fall down into the hole.”

She paused for a moment, thinking through her options, then grabbed a nearby rock to prop up the grate. With one careful motion, she reached underneath and gently pushed the squirrel’s tail free.

As soon as he was loose, she scooped him up, wrapped him in her sweater, and let him rest. The little one was shaking, clearly drained after the ordeal.

After a few minutes, Chase set the squirrel back on the ground and watched him slowly scurry away. 

Not wanting to take any chances, she contacted a nearby resident to check later and make sure he was okay. When the neighbor arrived, the squirrel was gone, safe and free again. She added:

“He just snuggled up in my sweater. It was so heartwarming.”

The rescue took about twenty minutes, but Chase didn’t mind. She finished her route with a full heart, grateful she’d been in the right place at the right time.

As she later wrote on Facebook, a message that perfectly summed up the moment: 

“Every life matters, big or small.”