Red Squirrels - hand rearing: 

In Jersey, every year, many casualty baby/juvenile wild animals and birds are presented to the JSPCA Animals' Shelter that require specialist nursing and care.  This often includes a substantial number of baby red squirrels that obviously require specialist care and feeding requirements and rehabilitation before eventual release 'back to the wild' in Jersey.

These are some pictures of baby red squirrels successfully hand-reared at the JSPCA Animals' Shelter:

Some of the JSPCA success stories:

Rueben, the red squirrel:

On 14^th July 2005, a red squirrel was brought to the JSPCA Animals’ Shelter in a plastic bucket having been found very cold and lifeless on the ground outside.

He was quickly clinically examined and placed in a warm, quiet environment.  Rehydration fluids were given to the squirrel, which straight away started to take in the fluid and drink well.  Due to his tender young age, (he was only approximately one week old) the squirrel, named Reuben by JSPCA Clinic staff, required hand-rearing and intensive nursing and care.  He fed well from the outset and soon started to develop a taste for Farley’s rusks, which initiated the weaning process and quickly saw him tucking into solids and fruit.  Once solid foods had been introduced, he started to find his true forte in life and began to fine-tune his invaluable instinctive climbing traits. After approximately two months of tender loving care at the Animals’ Shelter, Rueben was taken to a quiet area in the countryside where he was introduced to his natural habitat.  He remained at this site in a large enclosure that had been designed to enable the squirrel to start to fend for itself, as it would in the wild and acclimatise to its new surroundings (‘soft release’) before eventually being released back into its natural habitat in the wild.  

The following images document Rueben's progress in pictures:

Rueben, 14th July 2005:

22nd July 2005:

28th July 2005:

8th August 2005: