Squirrels

Yesterday afternoon Katie found a baby squirrel in the grass. We didn't really know what to do with it. We thought maybe the Mom would come get it so we left it there. This morning Annabelle went out on the back porch and came back in saying, "Mommy, there's three baby animals." Two more baby squirrels had appeared overnight. One was dead but the other two were definitely alive. We're thinking that they may have fallen out of the tree. I made a few calls and finally found a lady an hour away who rescues squirrels in need. She told me to put them in a box with some rags and a heating pad (which I borrowed from my fabulous neighbor). I was a little unsure at first about picking them up but I put on some gloves and it was no big deal. In fact, I started to get a little attached to them as I kept an eye on them all day. I went out in the yard later and the dead squirrel was gone...yikes! Looks like we saved these little guys just in time. They weren't right next to each other out in the grass and so when I put them in the box together they cozied up together. They looked so much better cuddled up next to each other in the box rather than just laying out in the open alone in the grass. They aren't actually being very cozy in this picture but it's the only one I took.

Then, later this afternoon after I picked Katie up from school, we drove over to give this lady the squirrels. We met at a gas station off the interstate. She told us ours were about 2-3 weeks old. Then she showed us some that were only a few days old. She'll be feeding them every 2-3 hours around the clock. Now that is commitment. She had several animal carriers in the car that all had squirrels in them. She works as a vet tech and so she takes them to work with her and takes them home every night. She was really nice and told us we could call in a few days to see how "our" squirrels were doing. She seemed very confident that they would make it. Oh, and get this. This lady was actually meeting another person at the gas station who was dropping off another squirrel. We were there for that exchange as well. That squirrel was a little older and had fur but was still too young to be on its own. So funny to think of this lady driving off with probably more than 10 squirrels in her car. Anyway, it felt good to help these little animals and I thought it was so interesting that there's a squirrel lady out there to take care of them. Here she is showing us the itty bitty ones that were just a few days old. Notice the squirrels on her scrub top.