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If you find a baby squirrel please:
Place the baby in a small box with an old shirt or towel, and loosely surround and cover the baby with the cloth.
Keep the baby warm. Use a heating pad on low under the box or a bottle of warm water – but not hot. Keeping the animal WARM is critical to its survival.
Keep the box in a safe dark and quiet place away from pets and children.
Never give the baby any food or liquid! If will often kill them. Their digestive system is extremely sensitive and they are also extremely prone to aspirating that leads to pneumonia and death. It’s better to have them hungry a few more hours than to risk their lives.
Contact us immediately.
It may be possible to re-unite the baby with the mother, and we will discuss this with you when you call. In the mean time, picking a baby up or keeping in it a box with human, laundry, or other scents will NOT keep a mother from taking her baby back.
When to Rescue and Rehabilitate
It is important to try to allow the mother to rescue her fallen babies—if she can. Rehabilitators, no matter how well-skilled, make poor mother squirrels. Every baby season, a large number of baby squirrels are actually orphaned by well-meaning members
of the public who immediately “rescue” a fallen baby and remove it from the area.
Mother squirrels carry their babies in their mouths much like members of the cat family. They will usually respond to their baby’s high pitched squeak and carry the baby back to the nest.
In the case of a destroyed nest, the mother will rapidly rebuild a nest and then pick up the baby, provided she has not been overly traumatized by the event, causing her to leave the area and abandon her litter.
Unfortunately, in a large number of cases, a fallen baby squirrel is injured by a domestic animal before the mother can rescue it or is prevented from doing so by the proximity of people or traffic.
There are some situations where we have no choice but to rescue an animal and take it into care for rehabilitation:
- An animal has obvious injuries, or is very cold, or very weak
- There are obvious parasites-- maggots, ants, fleas, etc.
- The animal has been in the mouth or paws of a dog or cat
- It is likely the mother has been killed or badly injured
- There are predators in the immediate vicinity
- The baby has been fed or overnighted by the “rescuer”, or has been with a succession of rescuers
- Siblings are also found (alive or dead)
- The animal is found in an improbable place—a swimming pool, garage, trap, school yard, etc.
- An attempt to reunite the babies with the mother has failed.
People who have observed a baby squirrel which appears to be alone under or near a tree should be instructed to do the following:
- Leave the baby undisturbed for several hours. Keep dogs, cats, and people away from the squirrel and observe unseen from a window or well away from the area. The mother will not
return for the baby if she feels she is in danger.
- If a nest is seen in the tree and/or an adult squirrel is in the area, and the baby is still there after several hours have passed, it is necessary to warm the baby. Handle the
baby squirrel with a soft cloth and put the baby in an open shoebox on top of a warmed, wet washcloth that has been placed in a cloth-covered, sealed plastic bag. Leave the baby in the original spot, or if possible, place the box securely in the tree.
- Depending on the weather and situation, if the baby is still there at dark, rescue is indicated.
Try to Reunite!
Wildlife Rehabilitators
In the State of California it is illegal for anyone to possess wildlife without a permit. This includes veterinarians, pet stores, and members of the public who “are good with animals”.
Wildlife rehabilitators, who have been granted rehabilitation permits from the CA Dept. of Fish and Game are specially trained to care for orphaned and injured wildlife until they can be
released back to the environment where they were found. In the case of a baby squirrel, this process can take from 8 to 14 weeks during which time the babies are fed special formulas and then transitioned to a wild diet to enable
to survive on their own, all while taking care to keep the animal WILD. Rehabilitators receive no funding and rely solely on donations to care for wildlife.
Text © 2008 Cathy Case
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