We thought of the rope. That would have worked if the squirrel would have stayed in the chimney part, but when it hit the metal stove pipe that comes up from the wood stove it crawled into that. Then there is the elbow in the pipe that goes down to the wood stove. That's where it ended up. If it would have missed the metal pipe and went all the way to the bottom of the chimney, which is in the basement, I wouldn't have heard the thing and I wouldn't known it was in there until it got smelly. I guess things like this, is part of nature, life and death of nosy critters.