The story of Wilfred - the Squirrel we rescued and reared! Part 1

vtravels (65)in #life • 6 years ago (edited)

Hi Steemians! I would love to share the story of this baby squirrel we found and rescued with you all. I hope you enjoy it! - Verity x

While me and @skiesandsports were on a walk with some friends a year back we came across two really small baby squirrels in the middle of the path. Our first thoughts were that they were both unfortunately dead, however as we got closer we could see that one of them was still breathing. Knowing that squirrels need to be kept really warm at this age we knew that without any help this little baby would most certainly die. So we picked him up, wrapped him in a t-shirt and put him in a box to keep him warm. We then googled what to do in this situation and it said that sometimes the mother squirrel will return to collect the babies that had fallen from the nest so its best to wait around in the spot you found them for a few hours, so we did. We waited for hours and hours with the baby squirrel in his box and walked around the area we found them to see if there was any signs of another squirrel, but no luck. It was such a shame but quite possibly something might have disturbed the nest and scared them away. We knew we had to look after this little squirrel so took it home to take better care of it.

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We then researched into what to feed the squirrel as we knew they needed more than just water at this age. We found a lot of amazing information online and found that a mixture of goats milk, natural yogurt and vitamin drops was what he needed as well as a dehydration water mix. It was great to know that he had a chance if he would just eat and drink the solutions we made for him. We bought a small syringe and tried to feed him with the solution, and amazingly he loved it. We think that he must have been barely a few weeks old, his eyes were still closed and hardly any fur was on his body, which is why he needed to be kept warm!

Here's a little video of him!

We also bought a heat mat and put it inside a small cat carrier with a blanket, it was so cute watching him curl up and get all cosy in it. We knew that we were going to have to look into further with what to do so we researched some more and unfortunately here in the UK grey squirrels are classed as vermin and if we had taken him to a rescue animal center they would have killed him or just left him. We couldn't believe it, he is a tiny animal and we couldn't bare anything like that happening. At this point we weren't really sure what we were going to do, or even if he would survive, but all we knew is that we had to look after him and help him as much as we could!

At this age he needed feeding every 4 hours so it was quite a job! We also needed to make sure he went to the toilet properly as we read that this was something that would kill them too. It was like having a baby! Working in shifts every few hours keeping him clean warm and fed! We really didn't want to get too attached but after we started calling him Wilfred or Wilf, it was hard not to! We couldn't believe how small he was either, I have never seen one this small before or even touched a squirrel before. It was amazing to be this close to a wild animal but also sad to think what had happened to him. I know some people would say that nature needs to run its course, but no matter what if we know that an animal would die if we weren't to interfere then I'm sorry I just would find it so hard to accept that. Every animal deserves a chance even if they are classed as vermin. We took him to the vets just to make sure he was all ok, the vet checked him over as we know that sometimes they can carry disease and we didn't want that to harm our own pets, but luckily he was fine. The vet said we were doing a good job and just to see how it goes. So that was day 1! We weren't even sure if he was going to make it another day but we were just glad to see him eating and drinking.

I hope you have enjoyed the first part of Wilfred's journey and I can't wait to share the rest of it very soon!

- Verity x
Photography by me and copyrighted to me.
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#busy #nature #story #blog

6 years ago in #life by vtravels (65)

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ewkaw (71) 6 years ago

Ohh what a cute little thing!
Waiting for more :)

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vtravels (65) 6 years ago

I know he was the cutest!! I can't wait to share more soon!

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gabyoraa (58) 6 years ago

AWWWW I want to see the second part!!!

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vtravels (65) 6 years ago

Hehehe very soon!

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shawkr13 (59) 6 years ago

Wow - what an adorable little fellow! You guys are very kind to have helped him out like that! I'm very much looking forward to seeing how his journey continues. Seeing all of those adorable photos this morning was a great way to start my day!

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vtravels (65) 6 years ago

Awww thank you so much! I am glad you enjoyed the post, I can't wait to share more of his journey very soon!

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eveuncovered (76) 6 years ago

Tell me more! 😍

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vtravels (65) 6 years ago

I will don't worry :)

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yumyumseth (66) 6 years ago

This is so cool! When I was a kid I would always find abandoned babies (birds, mice, rabbits, etc) and try to raise them. I wasn't always successful but it was so fun to try! Looking forward to seeing how this turns out!

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