Squirrel stealing flags at Mich. cemetery

PORT HURON, Mich., May 30 (UPI) -- The superintendent of a cemetery in Port Huron, Mich., says a squirrel is responsible for the theft of nearly a dozen small U.S. flags.

Mount Hope Cemetery superintendent Ron Ceglarek said he witnessed the squirrel take one of the small flags from a grave site and transport it up a nearby tree to help build a nest with its mate, the Port Huron (Mich.) Times Herald reported Saturday.

"He plucks them right off," Ceglarek said. "If I didn't see it, and I didn't follow the squirrel, I never would have believed it."

The cemetery has grave sites for nearly 965 veterans and the small flags are traditional remembrances left at the sites on Memorial Day.

Ceglarek joked with the Times Herald about the squirrel's apparent affinity for the flags, which the animal removes with ease from the small staffs to which they are attached.

"Maybe they are trying to tell us it is going to be a hard winter," Ceglarek told the newspaper. "Why use leaves when you can get flags?"