When Warren Meyer opened his garage door for a brief moment Tuesday afternoon, he had no idea that stoat — a tiny member of the weasel family — darted inside while his back was turned.
The wee beastie was loose inside his garage, which also serves as his workshop, for roughly 20 hours. He finally managed to catch it in a live trap.
His workshop suffered only some chewed-up weather stripping, and the stoat was set free again unharmed.
Meyer, a self-described “softie,” said he’s grateful that the stoat wasn’t hurt in the process of removing it from his workshop.
“That little guy was so adorable,” he told Cowboy State Daily.
‘Stout’ Little Critters
Stoats, sometimes called ermine, are some of the smallest members of the weasel family.
Their natural range includes most of the northern reaches of the Northern Hemisphere, including Wyoming.
They’re also tiny. Males weigh about 9 ounces, and females are roughly 6 ounces.
But like all weasels, they are adept predators that fear almost nothing.
The name stout is probably derived from the Dutch word for “stout” or the Gothic term for “to push,” indicating that people have always admired their tenacity.
They also have anal scent glands that emit a strong, musky odor whenever they’re alarmed or upset.
Meyer found out about that.
A stoat, or small member of the weasel family, invaded Warren Meyer’s garage north of Cheyenne. It was loose inside for about 20 hours before Meyer caught it and then set it free outside, unharmed. (Courtesy Warren Meyer) 
A stoat, or small member of the weasel family, invaded Warren Meyer’s garage north of Cheyenne. It was loose inside for about 20 hours before Meyer caught it and then set it free outside, unharmed. (Courtesy Warren Meyer) 
A stoat, or small member of the weasel family, invaded Warren Meyer’s garage north of Cheyenne. It was loose inside for about 20 hours before Meyer caught it and then set it free outside, unharmed. (Courtesy Warren Meyer)
Recycling Trip
Meyer lives a few miles north of Cheyenne where there’s no recycling service. So, he’s in the habit of taking his recyclables to his mother’s house in town.
On Tuesday, his bag of recyclables was sitting by his garage door, and he wanted to get them into his vehicle as quickly as possible.
“It’s hotter than hell, and the flies are really bad out there. So I didn’t want to leave my garage door open very long,” he said. “I opened it, grabbed the bag and shut it again.”
Meyer surmised the stoat must have been lurking nearby and seized the opportunity to explore a new space by darting past him unnoticed when the door was open.
‘Hey Guys’
When Meyer returned to his workshop after his recycling run, he saw something darting by out of the corner of his eye.
His heart sank, because he thought it might be a mouse. He’d had a terrible mouse problem last year.
Then he looked under one of his work benches.
“He’s under there, just looking me, and I’m like, ‘What are you doing?’” Meyer said.
“I knew nothing about them (stoats). I thought maybe it was a ferret,” he added.
He went in the house to get his 22-year-old son, hoping maybe his son knew what manner of creature it was.
“We came back into the garage, and he was just staring at us like, ‘Hey guys, how’s it going?’” Meyer said.
Hamburger Does The Trick
A google search helped Meyer positively identify the stoat. Then he started working on a plan to capture it.
He had a wire-cage live trap that he used to catch rabbits in his yard when he previously lived in town.
It was a matter of finding the right bait.
“We put ham in the tarp. It had zero interest in that,” he said.
The stoat also disappeared that evening, but Meyer knew it had to still be in his workshop somewhere.
The next morning his wife informed him that the stoat had made its presence known again.
“She told me, ‘OK, that thing is really fricking annoying and it’s freaking the dog out,’” Meyer said.
The stoat had climbed all the way up into rafters, more than 9 feet up.
“He was just staring down us there, chirping away and making noise,” Meyer said.
And that was setting the family’s rottweiler off, causing the dog to bark frantically.
Nearly at wit’s end, Meyer tried baiting the trap with hamburger.
It worked.
“I came back out a couple hours later, and there he was, all PO’d about being in the cage,” he said.
The stoat also had put those pungent anal glands to use.
“The garage was just filled with that musk,” Meyer said.
Still, victory had been achieved.
“I told myself, ‘Note to future self: Hamburger works for weasels,’” he said.
Mouse Slayer
Meyer took the stoat outside and released it in his driveway, watching as it scampered off.
Although he doesn’t want the stoat back in his workshop, he hopes it sticks around.
He’s pretty sure the stoat has been doing a right handy job of slaying mice around the place.
“The mice last summer were really bad,” Meyer said. “This year, I haven’t seen hardly any, and I think that’s because of him.”
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
