The Baby Squirrel

Below, you can read the journal entries of my 14 year old daughter regarding the baby squirrel she found.

Day One
One Friday afternoon, mom spotted a baby squirrel climbing down the trunk of a tree in our front yard. He did not have his mother with him so I went out to see if he was ok.
When I got to the tree he leaned out as if he might come to me, so went in to get a glove in case he did. My brothers were on the porch, so I told them not to make any noise.
They did not listen and instead turned on the fake owl we used to keep the squirrels off the porch. When I came back out the baby squirrel ran back up the tree and into his nest.

Day Two
The next day I saw him climbing down the tree again.
So I snuck out the back door so my brothers would not know. I got right up to the tree and clucked to him. Much to my surprise, he did not hesitate at all, I guess he was so hungry he would take any chances, he climbed right down onto my glove! He was so thin I could see his ribs. When my parents looked out and saw me holding him, they were somewhat surprised and they brought out a box and a rag. I tried to get him in the box but he would not let go so I took the glove off and for a while he thought the glove saved him. When my mom and I got back from getting milk for him he was off the glove and very hungry. It took a little getting use to but he got the hang of it!

Day Three
All day that day I made sure he got enough milk and sleep.

Day Four
It was Monday so I had school to get done. But I still had time to take care of him since I home school. And he was pretty good most of the day.

Day Five
On Tuesday I decided to name him Jackie. I also had a music lesson so I fed him right before I left. I though he would be fine for an hour, but while I was gone he was making noise in his box that I left on the floor and my dog did not like it. So somehow they probably worked the lid off and Jackie jumped out. So my dog started chasing him, my mom heard the noise and got the dog out of the room while my dad put Jackie back in his cage.

Day Six
At about eleven o’clock I got Jackie up to feed him. My brother JP wanted to watch, I told him to make sure Jackie did not fall off of the table while I got his milk ready. When I looked back at them to see what they where doing JP was completely oblivious to what was going on and Jackie was trying to eat the butter. It must have smelled like milk because he was enjoying it. I picked him up as fast as I could and thought I could cut off the part he ate from and no one would know but when I looked down at Jackie he had a huge bunch of butter on his nose and I started laughing. My dad walked in right then and asked me what I was doing with Jackie in one hand and a knife with butter in the other?
Well my parents did not think it was as funny as I did… in fact they did not think it was funny at all!
After that I could not bring him in the kitchen any more.

Day Seven
That night I was going to baby sit our neighbor’s baby for the first time.
So his mom came over to give me some instructions, and I asked if I needed to warm the bottle for him and she asked me if I knew how, so I told her that I have been doing it for Jackie. And much to my surprise she wanted to see him. I was amazed that she actually held him, and said she had always wanted to hold a squirrel.
He really is a sweetie!!!!!!!!!!!!!


This was the last journal entry my daughter made before the baby squirrel suddenly began acting strange and died that night. I have asked her to finish the journal when she feels up to it, and to also elaborate on exactly how she cared for this little critter. She faithfully set an alarm clock and got up every 2 - 3 hours around the clock for the first few days. She read books, online instructions, and emailed all her friends for advice on how to take care of an orphaned baby squirrel. We also called St. Francis wildlife on Tuesday (as this happened over labor-day weekend), and found that she had been doing everything just right!

We were all very upset that the baby did not make it, but as my oldest daughter pointed out, it would have surely died sooner and more inhumanely if we hadn't taken it in. My kids gave it a proper burial in our back yard. We all have a different perspective on the nuisances on the front porch.