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Today I found a baby grey squirrel fallen from the tree, screaming and being attacked by a bird. I quickly scooped up the baby which I couldn’t see the mother, and took it home as it had an injury to its eye. I spent a little while researching and thinking what to do with it, but it needed a vet as its face was bleeding and it wasn’t moving very much although it was alive and could walk around the box I put it in as it wanted to bury under the blankets I put in there.
After a while I decided to take it to the vets near me and I handed it over, but I’m not comfortable with my decision to do this. I knew it needed looking at since it had an eye injury but also I feel like I have just sentenced this cute little baby to its death.
Do vets rehabilitate grey squirrels or do they just euthanise them?!. I’m very sad if this is the case as I really wanted to save the squirrel so it could enjoy life and not suffer a painful death from being eaten by a bird. I also wish I had the time to rehabilitate and release myself back into my local park but unfortunately it’s exam time and I can’t afford to feed it every 4 hours and stay at home when I am reaching the end of my degree and I’m so sad that this just doesn’t align with my love for animal wildlife and I had to be sensible and prioritise my degree I spent the last 3 years slaving over. Please help, has anyone took a grey squirrel into a vet and what happened? Its injury didn’t look life threatening.
If you are in the UK, grey squirrels are listed as invasive and are driving the native red squirrels to extinction. There have even been campaigns to put grey squirrel meat on restaurant menus in order to raise awareness for the red squirrels.
It's a complex issue, no doubt... Obviously it's our fault as humans... But it does give me some complicated feelings as I'm currently 7 weeks in raising a little baby grey squirrel that I rescued from a tree I cut down when she was 3 weeks old. All we can do is our best with the circumstances life hands us. One way I look at it is that at no other time in history would I as a working class carpenter be able to rehab a little newborn squirrel like I have, with access to shared knowledge by way of the internet, and resources like Henrys pets with specialized squirrel formula and blocks readily available. Even the little plastic syringe with nipple so necessary to feed formula is something that didn't exist in any form many years ago.
OP did her best. Even if she took the baby to the vet to get euthanized, she demonstrated grace and compassion. But also, even if she did nothing, the harsh reality is that the baby birds need to eat too, and sometimes it's other little critters on the menu that we find to be exceptionally cute and relatable. It's a tough world out there, the best we can do is to be mindful and compassionate to the best of our abilities.
Release date for my little Skippy is coming up in about 4-5 weeks and for sure it's a scary thought letting her go. So many things to worry about. What if something happens to her? What if all the feedings day after day, getting up at night, all the money spent on formula... Would it be a waste if god forbid a hawk swooped down and took her the first time she runs away free? The honest answer is I can never know, and thats just the nature of nature. Nothing is for certain, all we have is now. Raising this little squirrel has been a joy for the whole family and has been such a great learning experience for all of us. I am so much more aware of how my decisions as a landowner and part time logger has a great affect on the wildlife around me.
Anyways, be excellent to each other, and I'll give little Skippy an extra chin scratch later when I get home.
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That's a great read, thank you for sharing!