Rescue

April 26

I am thankful for rescue, those times when people's heart bleed with compassion to try to help and save less fortunate souls.

Today's photo is of a baby squirrel that my daughter Beth rescued and saved from certain death. Her dog Oakley proudly walked up to us one day to show us a squirrel he had captured and killed. We didn't think about it too much until a few days later Beth and I were walking the dog when she noticed two baby squirrels crawling down from the large live oak tree in our front yard. The squirrels still had their eyes closed, so they were likely only a few weeks old. We surmised that it must have been their mother that the dog had killed. Beth, being the compassionate person she is, talked me into letting her rescue them. We had to clean off fly eggs that had been laid on their fur, the flies probably thinking the squirrels would die soon. Beth, her cousin, Sabrina, and I took began caring for them and feeding them cat's milk every four hours. It was like having a newborn baby again. Then a couple days later I found a third squirrel coming down from the tree. So we had three. We ended up giving the squirrels to the LSU Vet School rescue program, where they get animals acclimated to the wild and then release them. They told me one of them died, but I believe the other two made it. They were supposed to release them back into our neighborhood. I don't know if they did, but we have a new batch of squirrels in our yard and I can't help but think that maybe two of them may be ours. It was a great experience. Squirrels now have a special place in my heart.

April 26b

Beth and the Rescued Squirrels

April 26c

Sabrina Feeding One of the Squirrels

rescue

linda ronstadt sang

the song called rescue me

she rocked out for our enjoyment

for all to hear and see

she was blue and she was lonely

needed help so as not to smother

please remember we all need

to get help sometime or another.

© rt tulley