What do you do with an injured squirrel?
One hint: If a Google search leads you to listings for “wildlife damage repair,” that’s not your answer. I was in possession of a damaged squirrel in need of repairs, but all these companies do is patch walls gnawed by rats and evict raccoons from attics.
The veterinarians we called were no help either because they didn’t treat wildlife. And when someone suggested I contact the police, I thought I had stumbled into a gangster movie. “Sure, we’ll pick up your squirrel,” the person handling nonemergency calls offered.
Um, what will you do with it?
The person was short on details, but the phrase “we’ll take care of it” hung in the air. I imagined my squirrel on a one-way visit to Lake Michigan. “It’s not personal, Squirrel,” the cops would say. “It’s strictly business.”
I found the squirrel one recent Saturday while out for a run. There it was in the middle of the road, neither moving nor squished. I slowed my stride and to my surprise the sad little guy dragged himself a few feet. He had suffered injuries to his hindquarters and had a gash too. I shooed him to the curb for safety and ran home.
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There are hundreds of squirrels in my suburban neighborhood. Wildlife seem particularly active in the fall, so it’s common to see fatalities. But I’d never seen a squirrel with a limp or lower-back trouble. Wild animals were either moving at high speed or dead. Then my wife reminded me about one squirrel among many ransacking our bird feeder a few years ago: He had three paws and a newly shaved abdomen. Tripod, as we called him, obviously had been to the squirrel hospital. The local dogs wouldn’t do such precise work.
We drove back to the scene and found our injured squirrel, still there by the curb. My wife carefully lifted and cradled his shattered body in a shirt. When jarred, he squawked in pain. When she gently petted his nose, he seemed to relax. At home we tucked him in a cat carrier with a blanket and got to work researching treatment. We hoped to get him fixed up, or have his suffering ended peacefully. Leaving him to die on the road seemed harsh.
Not everyone would agree. Relationships with nature are personal, influenced by emotion and experience. Hunters hunt. Out in the wild, few rabbits reach retirement age, a fact we accept because nature is cruelly efficient. But in the shared habitat of city streets and backyards, we see a struggling owl or chipmunk and want to help. Because it’s human nature to be sympathetic. Besides, they were here first.
Turns out there is an emergency rescue system, though it contains a contradiction. Wildlife is protected by state and federal laws: Individuals can’t keep wild birds and animals as pets, nor can they treat wildlife without a rehabilitation license. In the Chicago area, a number of licensed wildlife refuges treat wild animals. Dawn Keller, who runs Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation in Barrington, says she cares for more than 3,000 wild birds and mammals a year on a shoestring budget covered by donations. Licensed Flint Creek volunteers and authorities deliver many of the animals to her door, but many also are brought by good Samaritans.
Yet, in an odd twist, the public isn’t permitted to transport wildlife for treatment. There is no good Samaritan law in Illinois covering wildlife — though Keller and others are pushing for it. Instead, the state Department of Natural Resources says authorities who find someone in possession of sick or injured wildlife have discretion to overlook the violation as long as the Samaritan is delivering the bird or animal to a licensed rehabber.
Harboring a furry creature without a permit? We had no idea, especially since we had an encouraging phone call with someone at the Willowbrook Wildlife Center in Glen Ellyn, an education center and wildlife rehabilitation facility run by the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County. Yes, they’d take our squirrel. No, they didn’t need my insurance information.
Willowbrook has taken in more than 8,000 animals this year, and treats and releases about 40 percent of its patients. A wildlife hospital would make a good setting for a TV drama. Previous cases include an owl that flew into a soccer net while chasing prey, and a bald eagle with a gunshot wound.
Like other rehabbers, Willowbrook says it doesn’t want people delivering wildlife unless necessary. Lots of animals that seem sick or orphaned will be OK without help. If you find a baby bird that’s fallen from its nest, put it back. There’s no truth to the old saw about mamas rejecting their babies if they detect human scents. If you find an injured or distressed animal, best to call a licensed rehabilitator first.
We brought our squirrel to Willowbrook. He was in bad shape, with spinal trauma, puncture wounds and a misaligned jaw. Maybe he’d been dropped by a hawk. Unfortunately, he didn’t survive the night. We never named him — he was wildlife, not a pet — but to us it was personal.
Michael Lev is a member of the baiduhai Editorial Board.
Twitter @MichaelLev
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