Five squirrels rescued after being found tied together by their tails
Five baby squirrels have been rescued after the siblings’ tails became helplessly entangled together by their nest material.
A passer-by found the five juvenile grey squirrels last week entangled in what has been described as a “Gordian Knot” so the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center at Wisconsin Humane Society was called in to separate the little creatures.
The rescuers reported the squirrels’ tails had become intertwined with the long-stemmed grasses and strips of plastic their mother had used as nest material.
“We anesthetized the distressed group and got to work delicately snipping away the grasses and plastic,” the group said on an online statement.
“It was impossible to tell whose tail was whose, and we were increasingly concerned because all of them had suffered from varying degrees of tissue damage to their tails caused by circulatory impairment.
“Bit by bit we snipped away at the grass-and-plastic knot with scissors, being very careful to make sure we weren’t snipping anyone’s tail in the process,” the Wisconsin Humane Society said.
The procedure took about 20 minutes to finally free all five tails, then the various degrees of tissue damage were treated, allowing the five to bounce back as “bright-eyed and bushy-tailed” young animals.
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The quintuplets will need to be monitored for the next few days for tail necrosis, caused by impaired blood flow, however they are expected to make full recoveries and will then be released into the wild.
“We’re happy to report that all five squirrels are now very active and vigorous, happily eating all that we’ve offered, including nuts, seeds, and fruit,” the Wisconsin Humane Society said.
“We can only imagine how relieved they must feel to be free of one another, and move independently. They are thrilled to be able to climb and jump, which juvenile squirrels need for proper development at their age.
“Without quick and careful intervention, these little ones would have likely lost their lives.”
