I Saved A Muskrat....No Joke

Today I was walking out to my car after basketball practice (I coach a group of 4th grade girls from my class) when I saw one of my students walking toward the pond near our school. She loves animals so I yelled, "what critter did you find this time". She yelled to come over quick....she said she found a rat that was stuck in the fence. My first reaction was to pretend I didn't hear her. If you know me, you know I absolutely hate animals. Yes, I know, it makes me sound very insensitive, but I just hate all animals. Anyways. I definitely couldn't pretend I couldn't hear her, so I made my way towards the fence. Low and behold there was a very large ROUS (rodent of unusual size) stuck in the fence. The little girl in my class was so distraught over the whole thing. She said she couldn't leave until she knew he was going to be okay. Talk about moral dilemma....do I pretend I have to be somewhere or do I save the nasty animal? Her mom came to pick her up and we convinced her we would save the muskrat if she went home with her mom. To make a long story short we poked and prodded the nasty thing, but he wouldn't budge. Next step? Call animal control. Unfortunately they don't help with wildlife. What on earth do they do then? What about bears? Do they just tell people, "sorry we don't deal with wildlife" when someone calls? Their only answer was to call the fish and wildlife department. Unfortunately their hours are 8-5 and they don't work weekends. I guess they assume that fish and wild animals only need help during the hours of 8-5. Next step? Washington State Patrol. I do have to say that Sergent Miles (I'll change his name for safety reasons...or maybe just because I can't remember his name) was very helpful. After giving a brief description of the ROUS, he verified the animal was a muskrat. Sergent Miles came to save the day, only to find that the muskrat had freed himself....so he thought. After a few phone calls we determined that my student had returned with her dad to help save our dear rodent friend. Her dad came with rubber gloves and pushed him through. He did say his gloves had a few claw marks and bites. I guess he was a nasty little guy! Sergent Miles did launch our friend over the fence so none of the students at Einstein Elementary find our friend on their way to school tomorrow!