Bobcat, orphaned squirrels treated
Three area facilities are helping injured creatures. The cat was spotted by several motorists
When your business is caring for and healing wild animals, you never know what might be coming through your door. Two cases in point: Lindsay Wildlife Experience in Walnut Creek is treating a seriously injured bobcat and the Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA’s Wildlife Care Center is awash in injured baby squirrels.
Lindsay wildlife specialists received the bobcat Tuesday. The cat was found on Cummings Skyway in Crockett, just off Highway 4, where officials believe he was struck by a car.
The California Highway Patrol, acting on drivers’ reports, found the bobcat and Contra Costa County Animal Services picked him up and brought him to the Walnut Creek hospital.
A spokeswoman for the rehab hospital says the bobcat is an adult and weighs about 20 pounds. Medical staff were continuing to assess his injuries, but they have discovered he has a broken pelvis and might have a head injury.
The hospital receives a bobcat about once a year. He will be given a chance to recover at Lindsay and then likely will be moved to another rehabilitation hospital with larger facilities. The ultimate goal is to return him to the wild.
Meanwhile, in Burlinggame, the Wildlife Care Center is hip deep in baby squirrels. The center, run by the Peninsula Humane Society and SPCA, is providing care for about 100 of the young squirrels and has seen an upswing in recent weeks in the number of squirrels being brought to the center.
A spokeswoman for the organization says many of the squirrels have fallen out of their nests, have been caught by cats or have lost their homes when people have trimmed their trees, not realizing there is a squirrel nest in the tree.
Most of the young are Eastern gray squirrels, which have litters twice a year. The most common injuries, the wildlife staff and volunteers are finding, are broken teeth and head trauma, which is treatable through a steroid medication and rest.
The baby squirrels can expect to stay at the center for two to three months before they are able to return to the wild. The Peninsula Humane Society and SPCA cares for and releases more than 1,300 wild animals each year, in addition to the thousands of dogs, cats and other pets the organization saves.
“Caring for baby squirrels is time intensive and the smallest of our squirrel patients need to be hand fed,” says Buffy Martin Tarbox, communications manager for the organization. “We feed them by hand a special, mother’s milk replacement formula using a syringe until they are ready to self-feed on seed and nuts.”
Because of the risk to nesting squirrels, the public is asked to postpone significant tree trimming until the late fall. If you find an abandoned baby squirrel or other injured wild animal, bring it to Wildlife Care Center at 1450 Rollins Road in Burlingame, Lindsay Wildlife Experience at 1931 First Ave. in Walnut Creek, or a wildlife hospital nearest you.
Whether caring for a bobcat or a scurry of squirrels, the costs can add up. Donations to either of these organizations would go to good use.
Contact Joan Morris at jmorris@ bayareanewsgroup.com or 925-977-8479.