Over the weekend we spotted a baby squirrel perched alone amidst a construction area near our house. Three hours later it was in a pet carrier in our bathroom while we scoured the internet for information to help the poor guy (or gal). Spring sees an influx of infant and juvenile urban wildlife, and it's helpful to have a few basic guidelines handy if you happen to find a young animal alone or in distress.
• Determine if a baby animal is truly abandoned. While birds may reject a chick that has fallen from the nest, squirrels will wait until the coast is clear and reclaim their young, even if the infant has been touched by a human. If it seems like it's in danger out in the open, you can put the baby in a cardboard box and set it at the base of a nearby tree, and wait for the mother to come for it.
• Always use gardening or thick rubber gloves before handling wildlife. Squirrels bite and may carry pests and disease that you don't want to catch or share with your pets.
• Contact your local wildlife rescue agency. In almost every state in the United States, it is illegal to keep wildlife in your home for any reason other than to transport it to a licensed wildlife rehabilitator. Try this site for a national directory of rehabilitators and agencies.
• Don't feed it. We read this only after our juvenile squirrel had downed a handful of peanuts, two cherry tomatoes and a slice of apple. Our particular squirrel looked none the worse for wear, possibly because it seemed to be a bit older, but improper feeding can really tear up the gut of a nursing wild animal.
• Avoid leaving a baby squirrel outside overnight. Baby squirrels in a nest with their mother are kept very warm, but an abandoned baby squirrel will not be able to make or find a warm enough nest with hospitable companions with whom to share body heat. Our local wildlife rescue agency wasn't open, so we bundled the squirrel into a pet carrier with an old t-shirt and nearby pine needles, and locked it away in our bathroom for the night. A warm, dark and quiet place is best.
Near Seattle we have a great wildlife organization, the Progressive Animal Welfare Society (PAWS). While we felt completely confident leaving the baby squirrel there the next day, it was a bit of a heartbreak to say goodbye to our little guest.
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Comments (42)
It's amazing how humans respond to babies, human or otherwise. I can't stand squirrels (they dig up my flowers) but I wouldn't walk away from a baby squirrel.
Aww, he's so cute. I would be sad to see him go. Good for you for taking care of the little guy.
I have worked in wildlife rehab so I thought I would add a couple more tricks:
Never set mice, squirrels, moles free in an open field with lots of magpies and crows around, unless you want to feed the birds.
Late in the summer crows and magpies will kick their babies out of the tree and watch over them while they scurry around learning how to fly. You may think the birds overhead are trying to eat the chicks because they make lots of noise, but it is a social event we shouldn't disrupt. The chicks should have lots of feathers (not be bald)
if you can, try not to touch baby raccoons. They are cute and you will want to, but raccoons carry a gut parasite that can be easily transmitted to people and make you very sick. Contact a wildlife agency, borrow a live trap cage, or get them to come in. If all else fails pick them up with heavy duty gloves.
Definitely contact a center of wildlife. If you do not know of one contact your local vet, they will know where to go. Expect the wildlife center to take the animal. A lot of people bring in birds, squirrels ect and expect to get them back to take care of them. It is illegal to keep wild animals so they cannot give them back, and really they are better prepared to take care of them. You have done the best thing by bringing them in.
Here is the link to some excellent information about wildlife emergencies from BCSPCA: Wild ARC (Animal Rehabilitation Centre on Vancouver Island)
Check it out! Super informative! ~
http://www.wildarc.com/emergency
Aw...this is why I love AT.
Talk about timing. My 70 year old father was just bitten by an abandoned baby squirrel this weekend. Apparently he had one as a pet when he was a kid, got nostalgic, and tried to pick it up in an effort to help. He and my mother spent the rest of the day at the doctor's office.
rats with furry tails. yuck
Larchgirl has obviously never had a pet rat. They are darling animals with tons of personality. (We are not talking about the urban sewer dwellers here.)
I agree with RebeccaJ--this is a great post and one of the reasons I love AT!
Baby people do not have teeth.
I used to volunteer for a bird rescue center where I learned the baby bird rejection thing is a total myth. Birds have almost no sense of smell, so will not generally reject a chick that is replaced in its proper nest.
It's important to note that if the chick is feathered, it may just have been pushed out of the nest to force it to fly. (The fledglings of many species actually spend their first few days out of the nest on the ground before they get the hang of flying.)
Long story short: if you know that a chick has fallen out of its nest and you can safely replace it, you should do so, as that is its best chance for its survival.
Yeh AT, fabulous post. We fence off part of our deck in the spring because there is a little nest in an old hanging candle lantern so that when the little ones start flying and "miss" our dogs can't get to them and the parents can do what they need to get them safely on their way. Just a little protection and helping hand and we love watching the whole process, never tire of it:-)
Not quite the same thing, but a (feral) cat who is installed in our neighborhood gave birth to 4 kittens in a patch of long ornamental grass (dry stuff I should have cut back before winter!) next to our front door while we were away on vacation...
She got a rude awakening when we came back, hissing at us every time we dared even look at her. We fed her a couple of times at night so that she would not have to leave them (there are foxes around at night, and the nights have been cold), but she moved them somewhere less stressful during the night.
The neighbour's daughter claims the cat is hers, but the cat is quite wild, living outside, and this is the second litter she has had since we have lived here (only 1 kitten last year). I wonder if Switzerland has any sort of a spaying program for feral cats... Or if we dare catch her (and the kittens when they are old enough) and have her spayed??
mschatelaine, definitely try to catch her, and her babies, and have them neutered. You can find cages for this---you set food in them. I have several friends who do this. It's the kindest thing---plus the kittens might be adoptable.
We were adopted by a amazing Baby Squirrel, a couple days before Ike Hit Houston, he was very dehydrated.. My Partner Rocky called and said he "was bringing home a surprise" and to get a box and put some towels in it?
You can imagine how surprised I was when it turned out to be a baby Squirrel and not a puppy...LOL, used a new printer ink refill syringe to give him a couple drops of water he perked right up.
After a little internet research and a trip to the pet store we were ready... feedings of Esbilac for puppy's every 2 hours sure keep me busy during the Hurricane and now 7 months later Cudjo is a beloved member of our family and we could not imagine life with out him, he lives in a huge cage and is free to come and go as he wishes, he plays with the dogs and my clients are thrilled at the time they spend with him......
Ferral cats are an introduced species-- they will reproduce with abandon, destroy nests and kill all the birds they find, and generally screw up your local ecosystem. Spay them if you can, before you end up with a very un-cute problem.
Did I just stumble into SquirrelTherapy.com? This has nothing to do with apartments.
baby squirrel shovel = improving the neighborhood
oh apparently plus signs dont work!
Or, let nature take its course and leave the animal be. Ok, now that that's over, let's get back to APARTMENT stuff!
Definitely agree is what I love about A.T. Today my next door neighbor came knocking on my door for assistance. She left her terrace door open and in flew in a parakeet. My husband gave her an extra cage and we provided some food and millet. The lil guy/girl was very dirty and very hungry. She seems healthy and I can't stress this enough to people. Please do not leave your birds unattended on your terraces or balconies. Hawks and other animals find ways to knock down their cages. I've heard and seen many horrible accidents concerning animals left alone and in cages.
I can't believe no one has suggested teaching him to water ski :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xxKwesCKJk
Nani, that is a poignant and hysterical observation. Thanks for the laugh!
Why the pitcher of haterade for baby squirrels, vladcole & minnesara?
Please, for the love of all that's holy, catch the cat somehow and have her and the babies fixed. Not only are stray cats an invasive species detrimental to the environment, they're a human problem that humans have an obligation to tend to. Ignore the neighbors, if they're not taking car of the cat, she shouldn't be theirs.
I have a cousin who just more or less "stole" a cat that "belonged" to her neighbors. Her neighbors didn't feed, vaccinate, or spay the cat, so my cousin took her in after her last litter of kittens, had her spayed on her own money, and took her to the new house when she moved. The neighbor's little girl is probably angry, but it was a good deed for the cat.
When I was young, a robin laid eggs in a hanging basket on my house. It turned out that the nest was too small for the number of babies, and one kept falling out. Finally we took the last one that fell out and tried to bring it to a wildlife center. However, they wouldn't take it because it was too common of a species. We ended up raising it, and one day let it go. I worry, though, that it might not have been able to find food and just died of starvation. We hoped that it would know what to do just by instinct. Does anyone with knowledge of wildlife have any insight?
Rejection by the wildlife center actually happened several times to my family. A few times our cat injured a rabbit, and once we found some abandoned baby blue jays. They wouldn't take any of them because they were common species.
Love the baby squirrel but agree wholeheartedly that observing, to ensure it's truly abandoned, is the best bet before intervention.
As someone who's worked in feral & stray cat rescue for too many years to count, it's important to not just control the population but to feed them so they stay and own the area. If you eliminate them, relocate them entirely, another population will breed to fill in the area. Capture, spay/neuter, adopt out whenever you can and - if the animal won't tolerate it - return them to their own environment but make it a monitored environment with healthy food and water. And the old adage about 'ferals are always ferals', not true, I've had half a dozen change their temperament entirely after being spayed or neutered and go from wild_ss freak to lap bunny in an instant.
also NEVER take in a seagull with a broken wing, they can AND WILL get out and walk back home.
Whoever said 'baby humans do not have teeth' has never nursed a baby (or even looked at one past who's about six months of age).
Do Not kiss baby squirrels, opossums, raccoons, skunks, or groundhogs.
Also, they are not ticklish so don't do that either.
Raspberries? Also not a good idea.
Contacting local wild life agencies are always the best thing to do. Also, not the case for every city but in San Francisco we have a awesome Animal Care and Control which I have contacted many times for critters.
Thank you for caring and doing the right thing. I love squirrels!!!
Another suggestion...
Smokey Mountain Fried Squirrel
2 Squirrels, young, quartered
1/2 c Flour
1/2 ts Seasoned salt
1/4 ts Black pepper
4 tb Cooking oil
1/2 c Water
1 Onion, medium, chopped
3 Carrots, quartered
Mix flour, seasoned salt, and pepper, dredge meat. Heat cooking oil over medium heat in dutch oven. Fry meat until golden brown. Reduce heat, add water, onions and carrots. Cover and simmer 40 minutes.
I recently adopted (virtually) a bat through batworld.org after stumbling across some videos on YouTube. IMHO, wildlife rescue is apartment therapy (and Apartment Therapy) at its best.
I took care of a baby squirrel he was the cutest sweetest little animal I ever looked after. I wish that I would have seen this information when I was taking care of the little guy! he's now back into the wildlife, I took him to a rescue shelter. Miss my little Nickels (and yes that's what I named him).
great! thanks for this post!
so adroable, thanks!
My hubby once found a pet monkey lost in our building and we got it to our local wildlife center where it was given back to his owner, they had had it for over 10 years.
To betterknown. Gross.
I love this little baby. Just want to hold him and kiss him. :) Sweet little baby. :)
Aww! So cute!
Its really good that your first point is to make sure it is really abandoned. That could be a problem very easily for many of us here who have the aww cute reaction. I took care of a young fruit bat when I was 5 that had fallen out of a tree onto a bike path during the day. It was fine to be let go after a day. I've also taken care of a bird with a broken wing and a hummingbird that collided with a fishing rod. Unfortunately the hummingbird died not long after. Its hard to imagine a super light weight fishing rod hurting anything- but thats how small they are.
And as to feral cats changing their attitude after being sterilized.... Wouldn't you?
danielle, that is the sweetest little homeless baby squirrel bed... Thank you for being such a caring person. :)
Kind of related but not...a friend of mine found a surprise robin's nest in the trellis right next to her front door - is there a safe way to relocate the nest for everyone's comfort and safety?
I agree with you sally305 =) What a cute baby. Thank you for the great post, this is very helpful!
To the person who kept the baby squirrel as a pet: keeping wildlife as pets is never a good idea. They may be cute and cuddly when they are babies, but when they grow up their animal instincts will kick in. Animals like dogs, cats, and even ferrets have been domesticated for thousands of years and are bred to be docile human companions. Wild animals, on the other hand, are unpredictable and have natural behaviors and needs that won't be met by living with humans. I work at a zoo and we get calls every day from people who have tried to adopt a wild animal as a pet and eventually they can't or don't want to take care of it anymore. The problem then is that the animal is socialized with humans and won't be able to be returned to the wild. There are plenty of exotic pets that have been bred in captivity if you don't want a traditional pet. Wild animals should be left alone.
I found a nest of seven baby chipmunks under my porch while I was renovating. They have their fur and front teeth, and I tried your suggestion about putting them where the mother could get to them, but she never showed. Now they're getting raw goat milk (you can raise anything abandoned on this stuff!) three or four times a day, plus they'll occaisonally sample a sunflower seed or a shelled pecan. I'm worried they're getting used to people; they're going to have to go back to the wild someday but what if I'm ruining their chances of survival just by hand feeding them? Any suggestions on what age they should be set free?