Chloe’s Story by Kim Kuhn
The Internet, most of the time, makes a rehabber’s job much harder than it needs to be. There is too much misinformation out there which oftentimes makes wildlife worse off. On rare occasions we are fortunate to come across an exception. This time a very smart, big-hearted 14-year-old named Chloe found an eyes-closed baby squirrel on the ground. She scoured the Internet and learned to do the right things:
Chloe with Pine
She made a temporary “nest” to attempt to reunite the baby with its mom, since Chloe could see the nest up high in the tree.
Reuniting Nest
By nightfall it was clear the mama was not coming back, so Chloe brought the baby inside to keep it warm overnight. She found a recipe for a hydration solution to keep the baby hydrated; because she was worried about “aspiration,” which she read is so common with baby squirrels, she let the baby lick the solution off her finger
As much as Chloe wanted to keep and raise the baby, she knew the best thing would to be to get it to a rehabilitator, so she called ARC. That night I got “Pine” (nut), a healthy boy who seemed unhurt after his fall from his nest.
Pool Floats
The next evening, ARC received another call from Chloe. That morning when she and her family awoke, they found another baby squirrel, which, unfortunately had died from the fall out of the nest. Chloe heard something and realized that there was yet another baby still in the nest – crying for its mama, who apparently had not been able to make it back to her babies. The nest was too high to reach, so Chloe did the next best thing: she used pool floats to create a soft landing place, realizing that the other baby would eventually fall from the nest.
Pine & Annabelle
This is how ARC got Annabelle – unscathed because of Chloe’s quick thinking! The babies were fed every three hours until their eyes opened. Formula was continued as well as solid food for five weeks, until they were all old enough to be released back into the wild. They spent some time in the pre-release cage with a squirrel friend name Hazel until they ventured out on their own to live the fullest squirrel lives possible!
Last year, ARC rehabbers rescued and released over 500 squirrels! Can you imagine the endless weeks of dedication, feeding, cleaning, cage building, and financial resources needed for 500 squirrels? Please consider helping us so we can continue to help our precious wildlife.
