For people who are interested in preserving what we have around us in Nature, you might want to consider feeding the squirrels around your house! I speak from the observations I've made over my nearly 65 years on this earth. Many of those years were spent out in Nature as a hunter and observer of what has evolved over the decades.
In recent years I have become closely involved in raising and releasing orphaned squirrels. This started back in 2008 when a baby squirrel literally fell into my life from a tree in my backyard. By all visible measurements, the baby was dead. Laying naked in the snow on March 17,2008, it had no signs of life, was blue, cold and stiff and was not breathing. I picked it up out of the snow and took it in the house to show my wife before taking it out to bury. As I held it in my hand, the thought came to me that many seemingly lifeless individuals, who were in similar hypothermia situations, had been brought back to life through warming and resuscitate measures. After warming and stimulating the baby and applying rescue breathing techniques, it came back to life and my wife and I were hooked on squirrels.
I've spent the last four years learning all I could about what it takes to raise healthy squirrels. My wife and I took classes from our State Rehabilitation Organization, and I've read many books from Squirrel experts at the Smithsonian Institute, Ohio State University plus information from hundreds of other people who have successfully raised healthy squirrels
In recent years I've noticed an alarming trend in the balance of nature in my State. I'm seeing and hearing more and more birds of prey starting to hang around within the City limits of our town. As I write this, it is late Fall here in my State. I traveled to a nearby city this evening, which took me through much of the country I used to hunt when I was younger. What struck me as alarming was the lack of Dreys, ( squirrel leaf nests,) in the barren trees of the woodlots I passed. When I was young, every woods was filled with these leaf nests, which indicates a healthy population of squirrels.
Squirrels are near the bottom of the food chain. Raptors, fox and bobcats depend on squirrels and rabbits as a food source. In recent years most of the continental United States has seen an invasion and proliferation of Coyotes which has put a tremendous strain on the balance of the food chain. The lack of squirrels across the countryside could explain why hawks and even eagles are starting to hang-out in the cities.
If this trend continues, there may come a day when squirrels playing in your yard will be a story you tell to your grandchildren as you show them pictures of what they used to look like! If the squirrels go, so will everything up the food chain!
What can be done? One thing we as humans can do is to stop viewing squirrels as pests. Many people complain that squirrels raid their bird feeders. My answer to them is, " Yes, squirrels have to eat also!" Many feed birds, but not so many feed squirrels. The problem with that is that once the squirrels are gone, the song birds will be the next target of animals up the food chain!
Squirrels have a hard life. A pregnant female gives birth in late February through March. If she is not fed well her milk will dry up and she'll be forced to kick babies out of her nest to make her milk supply last. Baby squirrels, like the one I found, are subject to predation in the early Spring by opportunists like hungry Crows who tear leaf nests apart looking for these tiny morsels. Female squirrels also give birth in late Summer, ( their second birthing season.) These babies have a very difficult time in colder climates, because they just do not have enough time to gather enough food for the coming Winter. Many of them die of starvation and exposure over the Winter because their mother is not a good parent and they do not continue to offer food to their children once they are weaned.
Over the past four years, my wife and I have raised and released 17 orphaned squirrels who would have never had a chance at life if we had never nurtured and fed them. Each one has contributed to the population of bushy tails in our neighborhood. Through our website we've been able to advise and educate thousands of people about what it takes to have a healthy squirrel population in their own locations with advice for caring for orphans, what constitutes good squirrel nutrition, treatments for common squirrel diseases and providing free recipes and products for insuring good health for squirrels.
An abundance of healthy squirrels will help provide good health all the way up the food chain, plus it gives individuals an opportunity to participate in a very rewarding and fun pastime!
William Sells is a retired Registered Emergency Room Nurse who has dedicated his retirement years to caring for orphaned squirrels and providing information and products for good squirrel nutrition through his rehabilitation facility and website, http://SquirrelNutrition.com
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