I know lots of you country folk will think me  rather soft..but we have 2 squirrels who live at the end of our garden who have been fed by myself and neighbours , they have thier own  feeders and leave the bird tables alone as they get plenty of food.
When the feeders are empty one of them will  sit at the end of the gate looking at the house as if to say please feed me!

Today my neighbour knocked to tell us that one of the squirrel was laying in her garden near to the house squeaking... she had her baby grandaughter with her so my OH and myself went out to have a look at him, he was lying on the grass seemed to be unhurt no cuts or such like but couldnt stand , at first we thought he was stunned and had maybe fallen out of the tree so we put him on a table at the end of the garden but he couldnt move one of his front legs and looked in pain.
I rang my vet hosp who said to bring him in , I thought they would put him to sleep but they said no they would check him out first as he may just be dazed , the vet were very good considering it was 'just a squirrel' they said really they are told to just cull.. they gave him a anaethetic and looked at him while we were there but said he had broken his leg and sadly we had to have him PTS ..I have become quite attached to my little squirrel visitor and even have pics of him on my profile so felt quite sad and even tearful  but at least he didnt lay suffering until he died or the fox got him.

Goodnight little squirrel ... sleep tight.  

Ahh bless him :(

Rest in peace little squirrel.
xxx

>I know lots of you country folk will think me  rather soft

Well I don't for sure.  Very sad, but glad that he wasn't just left to die slowly.  At least you made sure that his end was not lingering.

I know they're not everyone's favourite but no animal deserves to suffer--your kindness saved this little one from a painful and slow end. Climb free little one x

For you Starryeyes - called 'After the Storm' http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Thordell/Wildlife/Afterthestorm.jpg

Well I think what you did was really kind. Many people would not have bothered and left the poor little thing to suffer.

RIP little squirrel

You have a heart of gold, sorry that you lost your little squirrel, I've always found them extremely cute myself enjoy watching them and they do get very cheeky, they are real little characters. A friend of mine shoots them on sight whenever they come on her land so there are varied opinions on them.

Is the other squirrel still there? I hope so maybe he/she will find another mate to bring along as you are giving them a very good life, so perhaps you will have two again to watch over.

{{{hug}}} never nice putting any animal to sleep.

checked the food supply this morning, filled it up just in case the other squirrel was about and there he was popped up and had his nuts ...so thankfully we still have one .... we dont really see much wildlife living in the suburbs , these 2 squirrels are often talked about in the close ... LOL they let you get very close to them ..
There is also a young fox who suns himself in our garden for hours on end ...  he is very healthy looking as it does concern me regards mange .

once they had treated him it would have been illegal for thenm to have released him, as they are not indiginous (im assuming ot was the grey vermin version!) and to release them after capture is an offence under the wildlife act, so regardless of his condition, once youd taken him to the vets, his fate was sealed.

can I ask why you feel the need to rectify this post knowing full well the animal was PTS a week ago.... ??

It's a valid point to raise; many people are unaware of the law regarding the release of grey squirrels.

No I didn't know that about the law - but I would have been very cautious picking up a wild squirrel - I have heard they can give a nasty bite.  Very interesting story and well done for not letting the animal suffer.  I think most people would have hit if over the head to put it out of it's misery - after all if it was a rat then that is what most people would have done.  Must admit I would have put it in a box and called the RSPCA.  I found an injured cormorant once by the side of a river and spent ages phoning around.  In the end I had to take it to the local vets who would (they said) pass it on to the wild life rescue place on the Gower.  I wonder if they really did - after all they are seen as pests by the fishermen.

I wonder then if the same law applies to rabbits ? they're an introduced species, perhaps that was so long ago to not be a consideration, makes you wonder how predators survived before bunnies hit our shores.

> think most people would have hit if over the head to put it out of it's misery - after all if it was a rat then that is what most people would have done.

Hard to do but I think that is probably kinder for a wild animal than putting in a box and carrying into a veterinary surgery.

so Sam as a woosy townie how should one deal with an injured squirrel (grey)? personally I would have rung our local wildlife centre. Is that not right ?
Having said all of that pts is far better than a slow death in pain

are you asking me Starryeyes? I rarely come on here, maybe once a week at most, and this was a new topic to me. I never even looked at the date. pardon me for daring to reply!