How do you get a critter out of a tree? Advice needed.

[devilsfan]

There is something inside our oak tree. I don't know what it is, it only peeked out once - it looked like a chinchilla. Stubby face, extremely furry and gray, big yellow eyes. Maybe a kitten? Whatever it is, it was small, wet and skanky.

The tree isn't huge, maybe 15-20' tall, but the inside is mostly hollow. It's still alive so I don't want to take a chainsaw to it (like hubby suggested). There are about 7 holes (in the trunk and where limbs have been cut off) where this critter could have gotten in.

I stuck a hose in every hole with the water on full blast this afternoon and only managed to chase it from one part of the tree to the next and get soaked in the process. It's the only hose I have that's long enough to reach that part of our property, so flooding it out from multiple sides isn't an option. I can't smoke the thing out or use firecrackers, we're in a total burn ban due to drought conditions.

I need to get this thing out of my tree. My stupid dogs won't shut up and stay off of it - we have them tied to the side yard right now, and even tho they're a good 50 feet from the tree, they're STILL barking. Which keeps the toddler up, which drives everyone in the house insane.

So how do I get this thing out of my tree?

Stacy