Orphaned Red Squirrel Grows and Goes Home: Patient 23-1927

Red Squirrels are not quite as common as their gray relatives, and are much smaller and faster than them too. These rambunctious rodents prefer to nest in coniferous forests where they eat lots of immature pine cones.

Orphaned at College

Patient 23-1927 was this young male Red Squirrel. He arrived at our center after former Animal Care Intern Amerah found him roaming the halls of her college dorm! He arrived with dried blood around his nose, suggesting he had fallen from his nest and gotten lost.

However, this tiny ball of energy did not let his injury slow him down! He was prescribed medications to treat any internal bleeding, and recovered quickly. From there, he was fed formula multiple times a day until he was large enough to eat solid foods on his own.

Nearly non-stop since his admission, patient 23-1927 was active and running around collecting nesting supplies and food to store in his nest box. Even in his outdoor enclosure it was difficult to get him to stand still for a photo!

By far our most common squirrel admitted is the Eastern Gray Squirrel, so it was a treat to get to care for one of Pennsylvania’s other squirrel species. After just under a month in our care, he was all grown up (although still much smaller than the squirrels we’re used to!) and was ready to return home.

Slow motion was the best way to capture this speedy squirrel as he ran home. See if you can spot him hiding in the brush at the bottom of the tree in our Facebook release video!