Why don't you suggest that they treat for mange with a drug laced pecan. That way, no one has to touch the squirrel.
Just in case it is pox ... I found the following regarding pox. Based on their experience with pox squirrels they suggest supportive care such as food and water as opposed to capture and the stress overload that leads to death. She could surely put out food for the poor squirrel right? :dono
Date: Tue 11 Oct 2011
Source: Ark Angels Wildlife Rescue, Inc. [edited]
http://wildlifedisease.nbii.gov/documents/digest/SquirrelPox_Comment.pdf
We are still experiencing squirrel pox in our gray squirrel population
on Key Largo and Islamorada. Although not as severe as the original
outbreak 2 years ago [2009], it continues to affect the gray
squirrels.
We have found that if people with feeding stations would simply wash
the water supply containers with bleach at least once daily, spray the
feeding area with a diluted bleach solution, and continue to provide
food, the affected squirrels recover better than if they are taken
into rehab where the combination of the debilitating effects of the
virus and the stress of captivity cause them to die. Maintaining the
feeding station during the outbreak is important. Squirrels who
develop pox lesions over their eyes are still able to locate food and
water easily in familiar locations during their recovery. The affected
squirrels often remain in trees located within the feeding station
area leaving the tree only to eat and drink.
[Byline: Karen Dettmann]
--
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail from HealthMap Alerts
<promed@promedmail.org>
[Squirrel pox is a viral disease that only affects squirrels. It is
caused by a parapoxvirus that circulates naturally in gray and fox
squirrel populations of the eastern part of North America. From
Ontario down to North Carolina the disease is of endemic presentation.
Unlike the dramatic impact this pathogen has had on red squirrel
populations in the UK, where the virus was introduced with the gray
squirrels, it does not represent a concern for the conservation of
gray and fox squirrels, as the virus is part of their parasite
community. However, in Florida the disease has been reported to
sporadically occur in the form of large epidemics (see Terrell et al.
J Wildl Dis 38: 305-12). These outbreaks might indicate an underlying
poor condition or impaired immunocompetence, and hence the feeding
advice is appropriate - Mod.PMB]
[Key Largo and Islamorada can be seen on the HealthMap/ProMED-mail
interactive map at http://healthmap.org/r/1kov. - Sr.Tech.Ed.MJ]