'Stuff of nightmares': Dead weasel in toilet leaves P.E.I. homeowners baffled

Warning: Some readers may find the image below disturbing.

Becky Harding was up bright and early getting her three boys ready for school Friday morning when she went to use the bathroom.

Then she got the surprise of her life.

"I looked in the toilet and thought somebody got up in the middle of the night and forgot to flush, and I noticed that it had a face so quickly realized it was an animal."

The animal turned out to be a weasel, and Harding and her husband, Sam Lombardo, have been trying to figure how it got in the toilet in their second-floor bathroom.

Was it in the house already and climbed in to get a drink of water? (With four males in the house, it's not uncommon for the toilet seat to be up).

Or, heaven forbid, did it climb up through the sewer pipe?

"I'm really hoping he just climbed in because the idea of something coming up through our pipes is a little bit terrifying," Harding said.

I'm really hoping he just climbed in because the idea of something coming up through our pipes is a little bit terrifying. Becky Harding

Lombardo turned to the Facebook site Ask P.E.I. to see if it was possible that it came up through the pipes and, if so, how he could prevent it from happening again. The family had just moved into the 90-year-old home, near Souris, in January after living in Montreal, and wasn't sure if this was just a part of country living or indicative of a bigger problem.

They plan to contact a pest control expert or wildlife official next week. CBC reached out to a few on Saturday but did not receive a response.

Meanwhile, the Facebook post has generated lots of discussion, some saying it's possible it came up through the pipes and others saying it must have climbed in from the bathroom. And many more are simply grossed out.

"It's been a pretty hilarious thread on the Internet, funny jokes and horrified reactions," Lombardo said.

"Some people consider this to be like the stuff of nightmares. And I get that."

Harding said she was just worried about her boys seeing it and being scared to go to the bathroom. After the boys left for school she picked the weasel out of the toilet using barbecue tongs and put it in a bag.

Harding was less fazed because she grew up in an old farmhouse in Wood Islands, where it was not uncommon to see "creepy crawlers" like mice and bats in the house.

"I'm used to having wild animals around but never in my toilet. That was a first."

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