HOUSTON — Squirrels belong in trees, but sometimes life takes a turn.
"This is the big fall boom of baby squirrels," Houston SPCA Wildlife Center manager Brooke Yahney said. "When they get orphaned, people bring them into us. We raise them up and then we release them."
The Houston SPCA Wildlife Center of Texas is currently caring for a record number of baby squirrels with more than 200.
"The average length of stay is six to eight weeks," Yahney said.
Yahney said if you see one that may need help, handle the cuddly creature with care!
"The first thing we recommend is to check and see if the baby looks like he's injured," she said. "If there's any open wounds or if there's flies swarming around, something like that, that baby needs to be brought in immediately. If there doesn't look like there's anything wrong, you can actually try to reunite the squirrel with its mom. Squirrel moms are usually pretty good about taking care of their babies, so what we would recommend in that case is to put like a box with some rags or something in it and leave it out for a couple of hours near where you found the squirrel to see if the mom comes back and claims that baby."
If mom doesn't come back, take the squirrel to the Houston SPCA. Without a permit, it's illegal to rehab a wild animal at home, but you can still be a part of the recovery process.
"We can do this for six, seven hours a day sometimes," Yahney said. "So we definitely need people to come in and help."
The Wildlife Center is in desperate need of volunteers to help feed the overflow of baby squirrels. Most of the tiny babies need to be fed three times a day, carefully with a special formula through a syringe.
I even gave it a try. They are squirmy, but once you get the hang of it, it's truly a relaxing and rewarding way to volunteer.
After all, they're just a bunch of baby squirrels trading nuts for some warm, soothing milk.