Baby Squirrels

So today we had an interesting experience. There were some men that came by the complex to trim some of the trees around the buildings. They really cut off a lot of branches and most of them from the tree right by our apartment that provided some shade. I was a bit upset about it, their explanation being something about growing into other tree branches, or on the roof, or something...whatever.



Anyway, there had been a very large squirrel nest in that tree right above the sidewalk that goes in front of our apartment. It has been there almost since we moved in 3 years ago, if not longer...can't remember. Anyway, sadly, the horrible tree cutters cut that brance with the nest on it. Turns out there were really young baby squirrels in it. Tiger had gotten out and Brian saw him discover something...the babies. Brian was able to get Tiger away before he did anything to them. There were 4 hairless babies that he could find. He called me (I was out), and asked me what to do...(like I'm an expert in squirrels..heehee) He decided to put them in a small box with some leaves and a small towel.



(That's the only closeup I got of the babies) When I got home we called Animal Control/Rescue and they told us to put something warm in it and open the box up. The lady then told us that the mom would come and get the babies and take them away. If the mom didn't come by 6 pm we were to call Animal Rescue back and they would come and pick the babies up.

So we left the babies out by the tree for about 2 1/2 hours before Brian noticed a squirrel in the tree near where the nest had been. Then our whole family watched as the mom squirrel, who looked a bit frantic at first, finally realized where her babies were. She made her way to the box and started to take each baby, one by one, in her mouth, to another nest in a not-too-far-away tree. She would position the baby in a certain way so as not to hurt it, scurry off to the new home, and come back and retrieve another baby. I actually managed to load a video about it...(I don't know why this video works and others didn't before.) I apologize for the blurriness of it, but I think you can see it well enough.



It was a pretty cool thing to witness, and we were glad to be a part of it, in helping a little squirrel family reunite. As a mother, I can relate to the need to have all babies home and safe. How traumatic it must have been for both mother and babies to be separated in such a horrible manner. I'm so glad Tiger found them and Brian got to them. They were actually quite difficult to spot in the vines and ivy and such on the ground. Anyway, that's our feel-good story of the day....I've got a lot catch up on in other aspects of our lives, but that will have to wait...