Happy Thanksgiving and Hanukkah everyone!!

We are very thankful to all of you, our supporters, for making it possible for us to continue to protect and save our native wildlife! Still totaling the numbers, but this year it looks like we were able to help almost 500 animals in need...... and we could NEVER have done it without YOU!!!

Very humble thanks from all of us, and many furry xoxo's from the fur butts!

A little bit of everything.

At last, the rest of my squirrels are outside! The 5 overwinters are loving the wide open spaces of a much bigger cage to explore! Believe it or not there are still babies out there! Laurie just got one about 6 weeks old last week! What a crazy squirrel season this has been!

Lisa has some adorable overwinters of her own! She's got a little group of flyers she just  moved into an outdoor pen. Are they the cutest things or what!

 

The little stinker is making friends too. Since deciding to keep him for the winter, we decided to see how he would get along with Mary's 2 overwinters so he would have someone to cuddle with to keep warm. I guess it's safe to say all went well since all 3 were cuddled together in the den!

Now that Henry and Roxy are keeping each other warm in the den box they've been moved over to the bigger pen to give them a little more room.

Didn't take them long to make themselves right at home!

 

The rest of the overwinters in the big new pen are doing great and growing like weeds. They are all becoming as wide and they are long. Tis the season!

I think Munchkin here is the best example of roly poly by far! He and McFly want nothing to do with me! Tavi, above, is the same way, which is fine. I know they, along with Digger who is equally skittish, will be avoiding people at all costs once released!

Annie....still sweet as can be but getting less needy as the time goes by.

 Muffin, who is Munchkins real sibling, is much nicer than he is.

The big boy Tuk! He's huge! Had he not been raised as a single with lots of contact with people he would have been ready to go with the gangs we already released.

Everyone is pretty much set for the winter.....lets hope everything remains status quo!

Squirrel mania!

We are all still a little overrun with squirrels!

 On top of a lot of late babies coming in, there are several people who have called with single  older squirrels that they took in and raised themselves, and now that they are older and ready for release they want some place to send them. Once again, very well intentioned people, and great job raising them, however detrimental in the end. So back up on my squirrel soap box I go, forgive me! You can't just throw strange 13 week old squirrels in together and expect them to get along. Had we gotten them younger, we could have easily incorporated them into a group. At this age they can be very territorial and downright nasty to each other.

We rehabilitate a large volume of squirrels that we want to fear humans, so they don't get a lot of personal quality time with us. That is what their siblings are in there for. We have barely enough time to feed, potty and clean them and move on to the next group anyway! As they wean, they get less and less attention from us and wild up quickly. By the time they are ready to go outside they are impossible to catch, nasty, and eager to beat the crap out of any strangers.....of any species! They have all the tools they need to give them the best chance to survive out there. A strange singleton added to an established group like that runs the risk of some serious stress and being attacked and injured. 

Because of all the late babies, we still have a lot of our own squirrels, and as a result, all of the outdoor pens are full with more waiting in the indoor pens to go out there! There just aren't any empty pens to put any extra singles into!

There is so much more that goes into rehabilitating orphans than just getting them to live.....they need to learn to survive out there so they can be released. So please, as awesome as it is to rescue and save a baby in need, contact an experienced rehabilitator when you find an animal so it can have the best chance to be raised and released properly. 

You are awesome for stepping in and making the effort to save a little critter in need....(not many people would be bothered). Now give us the chance to make the time and emotion you put into helping that critter worth it!!

Life in the woods.....

So I finally went through some of the video of the "extended family" here at home and here are some of the more interesting ones! They certainly know how to keep me amused.
First we have a  coyote, raccoon and stinker all enjoying a meal together....and peacefully at that!

Remember the saying a bird in the hand is better than 2 in the bush? It's a lesson this silly coyote should learn! He kept trying to fit all the rolls in his mouth at once. It was pretty comical to watch, and he tried many times.

A grumpy raccoon decides it doesn't want to share with a poor unsuspecting possie! Coons, skunk and possie all in the melee. Of course the coons are smart enough not to mess with the skunk.

Not to worry though....the possie has been back with a few moves of his own. No more bullying him around!

The little stinker from the window well is  doing awesome and is just as sweet as can be. Mary has a couple spending the winter so I think we are going to try to see if they might all get along and spend the winter together.

The last raccoon I was waiting for has arrived. She's a big beautiful girl, Roxy, and is sweet as can be. She's much bigger than Henry, but very gentle. It took Henry a little time to get over his apprehension, but he has since learned how fun it is to have a friend to play with and they are officially cuddle buddies now! None to soon either with the very cold weather that has arrived.