WATCH | Man explains viral video of him screaming while fighting off squirrel that crashed Teams meeting
· The South African
A man identified as James went viral when a video of him dramatically trying to escape an errant squirrel during a meeting.
James did not foresee the day unfolding as it did when he sat down in his home office for a meeting with about seven associates.
Visit freshyourfeel.org for more information.
He heard some rustling coming from the fireplace, getting startled mid-sentence.
@hgtv Finally, we know where "Julie" was. #NeighborhoodWatch #Squirrel ♬ original sound – HGTV
“It’s my turn to speak, and what I’m trying to do is get a complete sentence out. At the same time, I’m like ‘Oh my God, something is in here’,” James explained his panic.
“I’m a big Cincinnati Reds fan. I love baseball. As I’m getting ready to fight or flight, that bat was within arm’s reach.”
The accompanying video showed James grabbing the bat while screaming, then leaping off the office chair and starting to swing at the squirrel.
“The squirrel came down from the chimney.”
James then jumped on the desk while staving off the fearless rodent, which seems to be coming for him.
Julie, the trusted nanny
“Julie, Julie,” James screamed for help.
“Jules is our fearless nanny… if there’s one person I know I can count on, it’s Jules. The worst thing about this whole thing was that Jules wasn’t home at the time. So I’m screaming for Jules in an empty house, not knowing she had left for lunch.”
“I love animals, it’s not that I don’t like animals. But the reality is, you can see it jump. And the squirrel is coming at me, I totally lose concept of what’s going on around me outside of what I’m facing right there,” James continued.
“I had no idea I was still on that Teams call. They were gasping. They were wondering if I was getting robbed, if I was having a heart attack. Oh my gosh, everybody just saw what happened…” James said.
“It’s clear the squirrel was trying to get to the window behind me and get out of the office. It ended up going back up into the fireplace. I called our local animal control to get the squirrel out of the chimney.”
“I’m happy to report that the squirrel was captured in a trap safely and let free outside of my home,” said a happy James.
James took this otherwise embarrassing experience in stride.
“It spread like wildfire pretty quickly within our company. There were T-shirts made, some of the jokes at my [expense], and I embrace it.”
“My kids do poke fun at me from time to time when they see a squirrel getting close… at the end of the day, I’m happy I was able to have this on camera, and people can smile and laugh as a result of what happened to me,” concluded James.