Shattered Glass Ops: The Purple Squirrel

On February 5, 2012, a couple in Pennsylvania trapped a purple squirrel. That's right a purple squirrel. Percy and Connie Emert caught the squirrel in their yard, which they'd seen roaming around for a few days. Connie said, "I kept telling my husband I saw a purple one out in the yard. ‘Oh sure you did,’ he kept telling me. Well, he checked the trap around noon on Sunday and sure enough, there it was.” Tests done on some of the squirrel’s hair were inconclusive as to the cause of the coloring, except that it was not born purple. Experts have theorized over the cause but no one can be quite sure. Theories include too much bromide in the squirrel’s diet, rolling in a pokeberry patch (which are not in season, so this is unlikely), and the most favorite explanation of the experts, falling into a port-a-potty. Yes, the most plausible cause to the squirrel’s  purple color is that the little guy was trying to find somewhere warm and fell into a port-a-potty and the blue dye commonly used in them colored his fur. However, it is fairly certain that someone did not capture the squirrel and dye it purple to confuse other people.