On the 26th of February we received a call from Caesarean Tennis Club, they had found an orphaned squirrel on the ground, there was no sign of the mother or nest in the high trees.
The poor little baby squirrel had scratches on her nose and lips. To raise an orphaned wild animal it’s best for only one person to have contact with the animal so they don’t get too comfortable around multiple humans, so one staff member took on the role of squirrel mum for the next few weeks.
She only weighed 66g, eyes and ears closed and not having any teeth but being fully furred we estimated she was just under 3 weeks old. At first she was confused and reluctant to drink the strange milk formula she had never tasted before but it wasn’t long till she was latching onto the syringe and getting grumpy when she was told she had had enough.
After about 2-3 weeks of bottle feeding we started introducing solid food to her and once she was more self-reliant we moved her to a bigger cage with branches to improve her climbing and balance.
She has now moved to a large enclosure where she will be left alone the majority of the day so she can become wild in a more natural environment.
Her last stage will be the release when she is confident at cracking nuts on her own. Keep updated as we follow her story.
