Walt is well known in Lansdowne for being an animal nut. So when the neighbor asked Walt if he would take the squirrel pups, he didn't even give it a thought -- even though one of them was paralyzed from his back legs down.

"We were going to take him down to (the vet) and have him put to sleep but it was Friday and we decided to wait. By Monday he was getting around all right." So they kept him. They named him Forrest.

"After Forrest Gump," Debbie explained. The other one was named Number 7. For the two of them, Walt customized a bird cage so it was handicapped accessible.

Number 7, on the other hand, is fully mobile. When they let him out of the cage he jumps up on Walt and darts around him in circles as if he's an amusement park ride.

That was until Thursday when Wildlife Game Enforcement Officer Darren David showed up at Lansdowne Auction, Debbie and Walt's store.

Acting on information received from an unnamed source, David confronted Debbie.

"Where are the squirrels?" he asked Debbie.

"Over there," she said pointing to their cage.

David went over and started to remove it.

"You're not taking our squirrels?" Debbie said, horrified.

Oh yes, he was. David told her it was against state law for people to harbor squirrels without a permit.

As it happened, she was on the phone with Walt. She told him what was going on. Walt happened to be with a lawyer, who said David might be trespassing and that he should come back with a writ or warrant. Debbie relayed the message to David.

"You aren't cooperating," David told her. "I suggest you cooperate."

David told Debbie that he would be in touch and off he went with Forrest and Number 7 in tow.

The next day he returned with the empty cage. Number 7 had been released to the wild. Born free, he was now living free, assuming he hadn't been hit by a car yet.

"They let this poor squirrel go," Walt said, "but it's domesticated. It's always been taken care of. It comes out of the cage and waits to be hugged. I know I sound like an idiot but I get attached to my pets. That's just the way I am."

Forrest, on the other hand, was on his way to the Schuylkill Wildlife Refuge in Roxborough, where he would be evaluated. I called up there to find out the likelihood of a paraplegic squirrel being released into the wild. I was told it was more likely it would be euthanized.

To top things off, David also informed Debbie and Walt that they would both be cited for illegally keeping wild animals and that Debbie would be charged with "obstructing justice."

"She put up a big fight," David told me, though he said he was now leaning against filing obstruction charges.

"She resisted. She didn't want me to take the squirrels."

But it wasn't the squirrels she was worried about so much as her husband. He has a bad heart, or a weak one anyway, and he takes the loss of any of his pets straight to it.

"I am so glad I wasn't there (when David was)," Walt said. "I'm very emotional, very defensive of my animals." Just like the real Forrest Gump's mother was.

But if he's learned anything in recent days, it's this: When it comes to squirrels and the Pennsylvania Game Commission, life's no box of chocolates.