A Pennsylvania couple in the US trapped a purple squirrel on Sunday. Percy and Connie Emert caught the unusual animal when trying to keep birds safe from the rodents.

"We have bird feeders out in our yard, and the squirrels are constantly into them," said Jersey Shore resident Connie Emert. "My husband traps them and then sets them free elsewhere so they don't get into your bird feeders."

Emert said she had spotted a purple squirrel on her property but no one believed her.

"I kept telling my husband I saw a purple one out in the yard. 'Oh sure you did' he kept telling me," Emert said. "Well, he checked the trap around noon on Sunday and sure enough, there it was.

"The squirrel's been eating peanuts. That's what we used in the trap," she continued.

The Emerts do not know why the squirrel is purple.

"We have no idea whatsoever. It's really purple. People think we dyed it, but honestly, we just found it and it was purple.

"We put him in an extra big cage so he has room to run around, and we'll release him soon. In the meantime, all the neighbors have been by to see him. No one can believe we have a purple squirrel!"

The Emerts released the squirrel back into the wild on Tuesday. Right now, no one knows where the animal is.

"We're not going to do a manhunt to look for the purple squirrel," Harold Cole, wildlife conservation officer for the Pa. Game Commission said.

Some accuweather.com employees have their own theories. Senior Meteorologist Henry Margusity said, "The squirrel could have been looking for somewhere warm and fallen into a port-a-potty or something similar."

Accuweather.com senior meteorologist Dan Kottlowski has a different idea.

"Squirrels get into all kinds of stuff. He could have gotten into some purple ink or purple paint at some point."

Purple ink was the theory when people saw a purple squirrel called Pete in the UK in 2008. There were no theories when another purple squirrel was spotted in 1997.

John Griffin, director of Humane Wildlife Services for the Humane Society, said, "It might be possible that there was some introduction of a product into the nesting material that imparted this color to the fur, or accidental immersion/contact with a dying or coloring compound during [its] lifetime."

accuweather.com