go green thursdays - animal love

Be respectful to animals

   Ok, so living in a city, it is easy to hate racoons. They get into your garbage....ravage your green bin, poop on your porch! Sometimes sneak in to your house and use your litter box....Or does that just happen to me? Sigh, it’s probably just me. But, and it’s a big BUT, they need to live, as well as we do. They do what they do to survive.

   The other day I was headed to work, and I saw something I have never seen before; a baby squirrel. So as I`m trying to take pictures of it, my cats became interested too. I`m a bit worried, but my cats are so domestic, and have lived with ferrets, so I let them come up as well.

   This brazen baby, chittering (my name for the noise) at us all the while, climbed back up the tree, only high enough for Aslan, my cat, to smell him. He turned around, and whacked Aslan on the head for his effort, which made me laugh, and Aslan duck away, but still stay close.

   So I put out my hand, and he almost jumped into it; started sucking on my fingers, and even bit me once. A passing jogger stopped, and gave him some granola, that he ate, while in my hand still, with gusto.

   So what to do? I have to go to work! Well of course I Google it on my iPhone.
   It tells me that; If you find a baby, put on gloves (because they may bite) and check if it is hurt in any way. Then it should be reunited with its Mom. So make a warm place for him, and hope for the best.

   OK so all this is done and the baby squirrel is gone off with his mom, a very happy ending. But what if that wasn`t the end??

   Would you know what to, do if you found a stray baby animal? Not many people would. So I have some tips;

1. Approach with caution

2. Wear gloves, mama birds won’t take back babies if they smell like humans.

3. This being the most important; if you are not sure, please, PLEASE, call the right people for the job.

So here is a list of places that you can contact;

http://www.torontowildlifecentre.com

www.second-chance.ws

If these don’t work, try your local vet.