As Diamond looked on in amazement, the squirrel proceeded to wield the blade in an adorably intimidating manner.
“I noticed he had something blue in his mouth and I did a double-take and then I realized it was a knife. I started filming,” Diamond told the Toronto Star. “He was just gnawing on it, happily.”
Here’s that moment on video:
So apparently knife wielding squirrels are a thing now…. #Squirrels #Toronto #blogto pic.twitter.com/bEDpTqYcS6
— Andrea Diamond (@asdiamond) January 6, 2021
Naturally, Diamond was a bit concerned that the squirrel might not realize the danger in holding that pointy weapon. But apparently he knew exactly what he was doing. “[He] kept coming back to it,” Diamond later said in a tweet.
From the looks of it, the squirrel was actually putting the knife’s sharp (possibly serrated) edge to good use. Because squirrels’ teeth never stop growing, they’re known to find objects to gnaw on in order to keep their teeth from becoming overgrown. In this case, it seems a knife made for the perfect tool for the job.
Either that, or the squirrel wanted to not-so-subtly suggest that Diamond come refill her “bird” feeder, if she knew what was good for her.