[qume]

Birds and turtles are curious about drifting things, like boats. And both are easy to catch (well, relatively).

I haven't caught fish with my hands but at sea been in situations where it didn't seem impossible. And the fishermen I know in the area (I live there on a boat) are magicians.

So sure, everything needs testing but I have a bit of a frame of reference around this one and it raises no red flags for me at all. Plus it's inline with the other lost-at-sea books I've read.

[Magi604]

Fair enough, I have no frame of reference for this stuff at all, so it seems like magic to me.

Someone else in this comments section linked to an article that explains how he caught the turtles. Basically (like you mentioned) turtles would get curious about the boat and swim right up to it, so he was able to get them that way. I presume the fish and birds behaved in the same manner, so it really lowers the red flags for me.

I would still love to see a video of someone catching these things the same way the drifter did though.

[PhasmaFelis]

I once put my hand around an urban squirrel's tail. Could have held it if I'd squeezed a bit. It was sitting on a wall munching some garbage, and I just walked straight up to it. Have you ever seen a squirrel do a double-take?

I guess my point is that even slippery little animals aren't as uncatchable as one would expect, if you can take them by surprise.

[JackFr]

That seems like step one of a plan to get rabies.

[ghshephard]

According to the CDC, squirrels are almost never a source of rabies. http://www.cdc.gov/rabies/pets/ - that is, unless they are acting in an unusual manner, such as letting people walk up to them and grab them....

[PhasmaFelis]

It was a campus squirrel. They're generally used to people walking by within a few feet. This was just a little slow to shift gears, apparently.