Squirrels Are Go!

Polly Pullar continues her story of rearing three red squirrel kits to release into the wild – but will they all make it to adulthood?

WHEN three four-day old red squirrel kits arrived with me, the odds were against me rearing them all. For a while, the smallest female squirrel lagged behind, and though she had made an amazing recovery following her brush with bloat, she was frail. I feared I might lose her.

The other two were thriving, putting on impressive amounts of weight. The male’s red coat seemed further advanced, and he was pushy at feed times. I was now feeding them four-hourly, including during the night.

Their arrival had coincided with a particularly busy work schedule. Though my partner Iomhair could have helped feed them I didn’t want to upset their routine, as any change could disrupt progress.

Their ears, at first firmly flattened to their little heads, were becoming more prominent. Sleek red coats gleamed like burnished conkers. Now, with hair, they no longer needed their hot water bottle and often slept in a dense knot entwined around one another making it hard to see who was who.

They made a range of high-pitched squeaks and soft chortling sounds, often audible during their warm wipe-downs following feeds. They snuggled into the palm of my hand to be massaged with the soft artist’s brush. I felt that the more relaxed they were the less likely they might be to develop stress-related infections. When I posted videos on Facebook, their 