Spring Cleaning with a Bonus
On a sunny Saturday morning in late February, a couple decided to get an early start on spring cleaning with the shed at the back of their property. When they opened the shed door, the accumulation of junk and debris confirmed that it was a needed task. The husband reached for an old gray blanket on the floor, an adult squirrel leaped out of the blanket, ran out of the shed and climbed up a nearby tree.
Since the adult squirrel had gone, they carefully peeked into the blanket. They found a cozy nest with several newborn, hairless squirrels. They folded the blanket back as it had been and went into the house to figure out what to do. A quick call to their veterinarian referred them to Second Chance. They said that they really wanted to finish the cleaning since the weather was so mild, but didn’t want to harm the squirrels.
We explained that the mother squirrel was now well aware that what she had previously
considered to be a safe nest was now known to predators (the humans) and that her
babies could be at risk. They were told to leave the door of the shed slightly open
and keep pets, people, and everything away. They were advised that it could take
the mother squirrel several hours to either find or make another nest and then transfer
her babies to it, but after not going near the shed and keeping the area quiet for
3-
If the mother squirrel had not yet moved any of the babies, they could place a radio in the shed to reinforce that it was no longer a quiet or hidden place to raise her babies, and then allow her until the next day to finish the relocation. The homeowners agreed to the plan and report on the results.
They called back in early afternoon to report that the mother squirrel had moved all the babies to some other site! They were ready to return to cleaning, glad that the squirrel family had a safe and quiet new home. We were glad that the squirrel would be able to raise her new family and that the homeowners were willing to allow it.
