Crumbly Acres Squirrel Release

 Sunday, June 7th, we went to the wildlife sanctuary Open House. Rideau Valley Wildlife Sanctuary (RVWS) was giving tours. We jumped at the chance. We donate monthly to this group. They do amazing work.

They sent an email, letting us know they had 3 orphaned squirrels that needed to be released. Could we help? They were having trouble finding a willing host for a release location. We jumped at the chance to make a small difference to 3 little orphaned rodents. We did this for #75, May, 2025, and he is doing well. Crumbly Acres Rehab: #75. 

They have a lot of predators. Coyotes and Barred owls, for example. I dissected an owl pellet in 2017, and found the black fur of a black squirrel! 

Crumbly Acres Rehab: #75, 2025.

We had a tour of the different rooms, with volunteers and staff feeding orphaned animals patiently with milk in syringes. The kits grab their hands and eat for dear life. No photos, as a flash could be disturbing. 

There were raccoons babies, groundhogs, bats, gray, red and black squirrels.

Lots of food and fun. They were bussing people in from the road, but since we were picking up the critters, we were granted permission to park at the facility. We don't do well in crowds. 

Some, with better constitutions walked back to their cars.  

Home we went.

They were quite quiet on the way home. I took a break for lunch, and a change of clothes. Taking the ladder, I got it ready, while going back for the drill and the camera. Joe was my personal assistant.

I did not get it up to the 10' up they recommend, tough for old farts. On the balls of my feet, balancing on the ladder, holding the nest box and the drill. It is a balancing act.

Joe put down water and some of the bird seed they sent us home with. I rested on my laurels. 

After an hour and a half, they were exploring their new tree. 

The squirrels did fine. I think they were practicing, up and down the tree for awhile. 

I think one left, and another a little bit later. I visited in the morning, and all was quiet. We shall see what happens. 

Butch raccoon

I don't have a conclusion for our ill raccoon. I have to process it all. Short story, it appeared, slept in the wood shed, and it left in the night. 

April 13th

We spotted Butch raccoon wandering around. It didn't look quite right to me.

 

 It came right up to me, which was worrisome. It wasn't aggressive, which was good. 

  

This is not normal behaviour! It wasn't aggressive, so it isn't rabies. We don't have too much rabies around here in the wild.

It settled itself in the shed. I was curious.  

MiniFred wasn't amused. She began whistling, her warning signal. (They are called Whistlepigs in some places!)

After dinner, down I went to check it out. Curled up in the wood shed, it was asleep. I was worried it was dead, but I could see its chest gently rising and falling. The next morning it was gone.

 

I cleverly put a trailcam on the chair, facing Fred's burrow. Sadly, I had no useable footage. The wind knocked it over.

I'm wrong. There is lots of useable footage, but trees blowing in the wind lose their appeal after 700 videos!

Joe Brian did some research. He thought it might be Distemper. Dogs and cats are given inoculations against distemper. Our cats are up to date on their shots. 

 

I emailed our Rideau Valley Wildlife Sanctuary (RVWS), sending them the photos and videos. They are busy with baby animals that are sick, lost, abandoned or injured. Their summer staff haven't begun. The universities are in exams. 

Kayley said she checked with ED Linda, and they thought Butch was too co-ordinated to have Distemper. Anyway, I went out the next morning, Tues., Apr. 14th, and it was gone. You'll recall, we all released a dozen raccoons back in mid-October. They have scattered. There seems to be a group of 3 and another group of six over the winter. 

RVWS said to call them if he returns and we will figure out what to do. 

Saturday's Critters # 644 for criitter fun.

Critter release

We support Rideau Valley Wildlife Sanctuary (RVWS). This is where our Squirrel came from, still named #75. We drove to RVWS in May, took the box, with #75 inside, and put it on the tree. [Crumbly Acres Rehab: #75] I've spotted him from time-to-time. He's been closer to his box as the cold moved in.

We've release some over the years, all rehabilitated after getting hurt or abandoned:

• Sept., 2016, there was a 4-raccoon release . 
• Sept. 21, 2017, we released 8 raccoons and 3 skunks!  
• In October, 2019, we released 4 raccoons, Mary Kate & Ashley, as well as Taco & Burrito. 

I learned a lot from their video! Rideau Valley Wildlife Sanctuary

They arrived:

Three of them came up to the house, after they'd led two back down, 3 came back up! 

We haven't seen them since! Dispersed to the forest to find grub, berries, and sanctuary from ice, rain, wind, and snow. 

I've three more: Video #2, and Video #3 (one had a short tail) and Video #4, videos from them exploring the forest.

Saturday's Critters # 618 < = visit more critters at Eileen's blog.

Crumbly Acres Rehab: #75

Tuesday, May 13th

We respect wildlife. Butch raccoon, Winnifred Groundhog, et al, all manage here on Crumbly Acres. We donate monthly to this group, Rideau Valley Wildlife Sanctuary. RVWS rehabilitates critters citizens bring in to them, rehabilitate then release them within a certain distance of the place they were found. That's where we fit in! 

We were to pick up a Gray Squirrel (black morph) and put him in the box up the tree. First step was getting the ladder up while Joe was shopping, the car was out of the garage, and ladder access was good.

 

We left around 9:15, drove to Rideau Valley Wildlife Sanctuary to pick him up. About a 45-minute drive, it was a terrific. Joe drives, I take photos! It's flat, and mostly bog, swamp or wetland. It is peaceful. On this quiet roads, obviously snow machine trails in winter...they are walking trails in summer.

It's familiar territory, we've been here many times bringing in injured wildlife. Also, I lived in North Gower for a few years, up until 1993! 

Look at the dandelions!

#75, as he is called, was pretty pissed off for the 45 minutes, 55 km trip home. Well, to be honest, he shut up about 5 minutes from his new home! 

Arriving home around noon, I called my friend, Kit, as I'd asked her for help. Joe makes me nervous when I'm up a ladder! (It relates to an incident in 2004-ish, when the ladder I was on slipped. The legs slid on the deck, and I fell off! Lunch plate-sized bruising on my legs.) 

Here he is in the box, not too happy! He is wild, and they wisely didn't habituate him to humans. You can see him trying to rip off the mesh while I figured out how to do this. They told us that some squirrel fire themselves out the hole once it is open. 

We were ready! Kit kindly kept the ladder still. My arms were sore the next day. Ain't old age grand?! The box is fairly light, just tricky hanging onto the box, holding the heavy drill, and then switching drill bits mid-project. You know how that goes. I was prepared and ducked. There was no reaction! Good thing! It took about 10 minutes, I sped up the video. 

We secured his nest box 10' up a tree, then leave him alone. Bird seed is placed at the base of the tree, and water is nearby. 

They think it'll take a few days to venture forth. It may or may not come back to the box. It could take off. Who knows?!

Later in the day...

Meet #75!

He peeked out at 3:30, 

even Winnifred was hot.

We warned him about the hawk flying above!

It took awhile! I got a sunburn sitting watching for him. 

The two boys had a nap at 3 p.m., #75 squirrel and Joe!

Wed., May 14th 

I awoke at 6 a.m. and peeked outside. There he was, languishing on the branch. He seems to be somewhat crepuscular, only outside the box at dusk and dawn. This is a good survival technique for many critters, to avoid humans.

This was 5:30 a.m.

After brekkie and coffee, Joe put out more bird seed for #75 and checked the water dish. 

I went over later to grab the ladder, and spotted empty sunflower seed shells. All good signs. 

6:30 p.m.

Thursday, May 15th

It's 5:30 a.m. and he's back out on the branch! All good signs. At 6:30 I saw him come down the tree for food or water. We'll see if it takes a week or two for #75 leaves his nest box. I know we've had a mink, fox, barred owl, all potential predators. He may stay or may leave. But he is free! We're to feed him for 2 weeks or so. I saw him run back up the tree. I took a photo, and back he went into his nest box. 

It feels good, with all the death and destruction, hate and anger in the world, to create a little peace, a new home for a critter, and kindness. 

He only comes out once a day?