Release of squirrels

[Drew]

Hi,
I have a question for you all. Once the hand feeding and weaning stages of the rehabilitation of a squirrel are over, what are the steps of getting it ready for relase?
Also, do you know of any good instructional books about squirrel rehabilitation?
Thanks,
Drew

[Secret Squirrel]

Hi Drew!!! We just did a "Kids day in the Park" and of course "Keeper Of The Wild's Ziggy was a big hit...along with the baby squirrels, baby racoons and baby bunnys we had to show the kids. Lots of big kids too (adults) liked the babies too!!!
Janet and I talked about you in great length...she just loves you!!!!!
Anyway...this it an artical I used when I was geeting ready to release mine. I hope it's what you are look for. :peace out!!!!


Section-I
RELEASE
There is a special and simple way to successfully release the squirrel you have nurtured. Don't just take it to a tree and let go; The squirrel may reach your back door before you do, begging to come in. That he is begging to come in doesn't mean he is rejecting his birthright: it means he is unfamiliar with the outdoor territory. Squirrels have home ranges in which they know every tree, rock, and bush, dog and cat. Take them to another area and they are completely unnerved and afraid.
Provide an outdoor cage as a support system for your baby until he or she has adjusted to new surroundings and is comfortable outside. Your baby must learn to interact with its own kind as well as learn about its new environment. Put the baby in the cage outside a week or two prior to your release date. This will introduce the baby to outside temperatures, sounds, and daylight/nighttime schedules gradually. Place the cage in a protected area such as a screened porch, a covered patio, carport, etc. Make sure cats and dogs cannot reach the cage. Protect the cage from rain and too much direct sun. Include a wood nestbox in the cage so that the baby will have shelter and can hide if predators come to the cage. Continue putting food in the cage every day, and give reassurance by talking to him and touching him. It will be very frightened at first and will probably hide in the nest box for a day, but will eventually come out. You can even, in the case of extreme fear where the baby crouches panting and squealing in the cage, move the cage out of the house every day for a few hours until the baby is comfortable outside. Then leave the cage outside all the time, including nights, for 1 to 2 weeks.
One day, when the squirrel is scampering all over the cage, and the weather will be mild for several days, open the door and let it find its way out. Do not remove the cage and keep food and water and the nest box in the cage. He or she will come and go from the cage for awhile until it has built a nest or taken over an old one.
Another way to release the squirrel after it has been acclimatized in a cage for a week or two is a tree release in a wood nestbox.
Instructions:
Acclimatize the squirrel for two weeks in a release cage outside that has a wood nest box and quilt batting for bedding (quilt batting is very warm and dries out if it gets wet; do not release a squirrel in a box that has cotton or wool bedding because it will not dry, causing mildew, nor will it warm the baby when it is wet; the squirrel will not stay in a wet, mildewed bed). Be sure the nestbox has several small ventilation holes drilled in each side. Very early on release day before the squirrel comes out of the box in the morning, close the entrance to the wood nestbox with the squirrel in the box. Take an extension ladder to the tree you have chosen the previous day, wedge, nail, or use bungee cords to attach the box to the tree as high as possible; then open the entrance. The squirrel will be warm, dry, and secure in the home he already knows that is located high in a tree, which is where he wants it to be. Once squirrels are released, they don’t like going back into a cage and will move out as quickly as possible. They may move out before they have been able to fine-tune their nest building skills and will be left with no place to sleep or hide, but not wanting to return to the cage. Releasing them from a nestbox in a tree satisfies their emotional and physical needs.
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Section-J
SQUIRRELS ARE NOT PETS
Squirrels are wonderful babies and can be vicious adults. In most states it is illegal to keep them and if caught a person could pay a big fine. They have no domestic instincts, they do not love and they do not feel loyalty; they have no pack or herding instincts, and are by nature solitary creatures. Do not allow yourself to confuse their natures with those of dogs and cats. Squirrels have special dietary and spacial needs that are difficult to satisfy. Mature squirrels are unpredictable in mood, do not forget or forgive mishandling, and will bite even the hand that fed it and kept its bottom cleaned. Do not believe the stories you hear or read which imply squirrels are wonderful pets - they are not.
Squirrels are creatures of pure instinct with very strong defenses. Their bodies are designed for trees and dirt, not houses and cages. They will shred your curtains, urinate and defecate anywhere they happen to be, claw the skin off your arms, bite you, and if kept in a cage will develop mindless routines of movement. You will become a warden tending a prisoner. There is nothing more heart rending than to see a squirrel hanging on wire or screens longing for something it cannot name but wants so intensely. The squirrel is driven by instinctive emotional and physical needs that cannot be satisfied in captivity and that cannot be changed.
Releasing a squirrel will relieve you of the day to day responsibility and the pain and guilt you will feel when the squirrel you have loved and nurtured dies in captivity. And die it will - because of poor diet; because it bit somebody and was thrown against a wall; a child injured it or it injured a child; someone moved a sofa and crushed it; slammed a door when it was sitting on top of the door; or it drowned in a toilet. A squirrel you raised and who lives in your backyard is a happy squirrel that will come to you and take treats; it may even come in and out of your house. You can have a relationship with a free squirrel that you cannot possibly have in captivity, a relationship that is based on respect and admiration and not on selfish possessiveness.
Love and nurture the baby you have found, and after giving life, give the greatest gift of all - the freedom to enjoy that life. The first time you watch your baby scamper up a tree you will feel the rightness of it, you will see its unbounded joy. You will profit from one additional aspect of freeing your baby and that is a feeling of participation in the natural world by giving back to Mother Earth one of her own.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
Sara Rowe - Columbus Squirrel Rescue
706-322-5012 - Email: scrga@aol.com (scrga@aol.com)
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[Drew]

Thats cool that you went and talked to Janet for the day. She is so good at what she does its not even funny. Have you seen her all throughout her rehab career? She went from rehabbing at her house, to a center down the road from her new one, to Keeper of the Wild, where shes at now. She has come a long way and I respect that. I was only able to volunteer up there one day this summer while I was in SC which was really unfortunate but I live an hour away from St. George and my dad doesnt like driving there. He has to dirve there to drop me off, to his house, then come back to pick me up and back home. Thats 4 hrs total of driving time which is a lot. But it sure was awfully nice of Janet to have met us half way. Shes such a great person. I think next summer, when I can drive, I will drive up there and stay for a while at the center.

[Drew]

I forgot to thank you for the article, Im sorry. So thanks for the article. I saved it.
Drew