Brass Squirrel ELECTRICAL? TOY?

squirrel sitting on half ball base with hole at bottom (not threaded). two holes under his tail lead to base. base unscrews revealing a round piece of wood with attached metal piece on bottom. attached to the metal and leading thru a whole in the wood and out one of the holes beneath his tail is what i think was once an electrical wire - many unraveled cloth threads surround several fine copper wires. if you put something into the hole at the bottom of the base, it would touch the metal piece attached to the wood. i've shown this to several antique dealers and no one has any idea what it is.

Fair