Re-uniting

[CritterMom]

My heart is crushed.

I have written before about The Squirrel Café on my back porch – a feeder I keep stocked with my Peanut Butter Mazuri blocks which is wall mounted high enough to keep it predator free and with an aerial walkway to provide safe access. The Cafe has allowed me to become friends with my many locals – I live at the edge of a woods in a heavily wooded neighborhood, so there are lots. The Café is right outside my kitchen window and I have put some wooden perches out there that are actually attached to the bank of windows above my kitchen counter and sink because they enjoy watching me work inside as much as I enjoy watching them eat and squabble and lounge outside.

I found out this weekend that my next door neighbor is having 5 ENORMOUS beech trees ripped out this week. They are nest trees. Each tree has at least a dozen nests in it – I watch the little faces pop out every morning when everyone wakes up and heads over to the Café for breakfast. My beloved yard mama, Boombalatti, who has been with me for 5 years and will spend hours pancaked on the window perch watching me – standing up and leaning forward in excitement when I get the big knife chopping, then settling back down when I do the boring stuff – lives in one of them. She has babies now. I saw her this morning. They all have babies.

They were all out this morning frisking around and I want to scream at them to start NOW – start moving – they don’t know that in the next 24 hours their idyllic life will be filled with carnage. Or that it will likely last all week. That the homes they have lived their entire lives in will be demolished, the babies they have been caring for killed…I have never felt this helpless…I begged the neighbors to at least wait until the spring babies are out and got an eyeroll. I have no way to drive them out – these are HUGE trees – 4+ feet in diameter – I could beat on the trunks until I died and they wouldn’t even feel it. I have no idea where the adults will even go – I bet their backup nests are in the other trees that are being chopped down. I haven’t eaten or slept or even been able to breathe properly thinking about what is about to happen to MY FRIENDS.

I threw together a baby bin – it is a large, deep, clear plastic bin with a hinged lid. I cut two 4 inch holes, one on either end – which are covered with hardware cloth to provide for some flow through ventilation. I am stocking the Café with a ton of food to try to keep as many over on my property as I can. So here is a question: If I can actually get the cutters to use my baby box instead of stuffing the babies into the chipper, what are the chances that the mamas would retrieve any of them? If faced with a container of babies from many different nests, would they take THEIR babies and not hurt the others? If I have most of the mamas over on my property at the Café and I tuck the baby box where they can access it, I can remove the hardware cloth from one of the openings on the end. An adult squirrel could easily go in and out through one of the holes – in fact the bin used to be a play box for P to hide nuts in.

So if I had babies in this bin placed someplace on my porch where they all hang out that would be inaccessible to predators, with one end open so mamas could go in and out, would they? Has anyone ever returned multiple babies to multiple mamas en masse?

[HRT4SQRLS]

Oh dear God!! :sadness

I would get a hand full of $20's and a cooler full of drinks (beer) and bribe the workers. The thought of all these babies hitting the ground is horrible. You won't be able to handle all the injured babies. It sounds like we need to mobilize the NE members for this. Contact Gus's mom and any other rehabbers that you can think of. I have no idea if mama's would be able to pick their babies. If the tree trimmers removed the whole nest it would keep the groups together.

:sad:sad:sad

I feel your pain Lynn. I am so sorry. :sadness I REALLY don't like neighbors.

[Mel1959]

Oh dear! :eek:eek. It sounds like Patti's suggestion of keeping the nests together would be helpful. Also the idea of having multiple people available for the workers to hand off the nests to. Do you have nest boxes in your trees? It's probably not possible to get some quickly made and put up for them to relocate to. :sniff. There's no way the neighbors would be willing to hold off the cutting? Does your neighborhood have any kind of rules about cutting down large trees? Many do.

I am so sorry this is happening to you and your friends. :sadness:sadness:boohoo:boohoo. I wish I was closer to help.

[DarkLies212]

Oh my god...my heart is breaking for you and your friends. Maybe the trimmers might be compassionate enough to help you gather the babies. I know many people are actually willing to help when they see that they can. I just hope that the neighbor doesn't get to them first...

[Lighten-Up]

All I can do is send prayers and hugs and ask for Divine intervention to talk to the squirrels to guide them miraculously through this process. At least you have a weeks warning. We can all pray, and that can be of great value.

:Love_Icon :grouphug :hug :Love_Icon

I can only imagine how you feel. OMG

:Love_Icon Prayers :Love_Icon Trust :Love_Icon Love :Love_Icon

[Ekorre]

What an absolute nightmare! :eek

I can only imagine the panic you must be feeling... :boohoo :sadness

My heart goes out to you and all those precious mamas & babies. :grouphug :hug :grouphug

I agree with HRT4SQRLS - is there any way you can talk with and/or bribe the workers? Are there any rehabbers near you who can help?

:Love_Icon Prayers for a positive outcome... :Love_Icon


Oh dear God!! :sadness

I would get a hand full of $20's and a cooler full of drinks (beer) and bribe the workers. The thought of all these babies hitting the ground is horrible. You won't be able to handle all the injured babies. It sounds like we need to mobilize the NE members for this. Contact Gus's mom and any other rehabbers that you can think of. I have no idea if mama's would be able to pick their babies. If the tree trimmers removed the whole nest it would keep the groups together.

:sad:sad:sad

I feel your pain Lynn. I am so sorry. :sadness I REALLY don't like neighbors.

:goodpost

[redwuff]

This really sucks!!!

[Nancy in New York]

This is so sad Lynn. I can't even grasp the angst you must be feeling.
Not sure if this is a good thing or bad, but I am going to assume that
these little ones are pretty old by now.
When you say babies, roughly how old?
It will make catching them even more difficult. :(
Prayers that they be spared. Little do they know
their world will soon be turned upside down. :boohoo
I wished your neighbors would listen
to reason. Though I'm not sure there is ever a good time to cut down these
beautiful old trees.
That's why I can't release here anymore. ALL of our neighbors have cut
down the trees surrounding our property. :shakehead

[cava]

Do you think if nest boxes were available they would use them?

I mean, mommas are smart and those trees have to be taken down piece by piece and hopefully a lot of them will move babies before hand.

The farm I used to work at had a wall of nest boxes for the hens to lay eggs in, something like this but imagine it closed with holes for squees and bedding inside...temporary housing until they could build new ones...

Or even to place babies in for moms to find them? (This may be dumb, just throwing ideas out there.)

Or buy real ones and hang them all over?

289368

[CritterMom]

No need to activate people in New England. The babies that they came upon today are dead. The tree trunks are lying on their sides behind the house and I am praying that mamas can use this time to get the babies buried inside the huge trunks out. I don't want to go over there - there are no people around at all and they have until nightfall to maybe save a few.

I went over there when I was home at lunch and BEGGED them to use the baby bin I made up. I found it lying on its side in my backyard where someone hurled it.

There are squirrels all over there...looking for their babies...their homes. It is very, very warm tonight - I think I will go over there very late (or very early) with a flashlight after everyone is in bed and see if there are any visible stragglers.

I don't know how to process this. How do you un-know something like this? I am filled with such loathing and rage I don't know where to put it all. I feel like my brain is going to explode.

If I had dozens of nest boxes and an aerial lift to hang them I would be out there, believe me. I can't even begin to afford to do that though. I just hope they can find new homes soon... God.

[cava]

This is terrible and I am so, so sorry. :Love_Icon

Your rage and sorrow is understandable. And your neighbors sound like total aholes.

I am thankful every day that squirrels and other wildlife have learned to adapt to us and may be, hopefully, the moms were on it and did their best to move fast.

Let us know if you find anything. Sending positive vibes your way. :glomp

[HRT4SQRLS]

I don't even know what to say. I just want to cry. :sadness

[Nancy in New York]

No need to activate people in New England. The babies that they came upon today are dead. The tree trunks are lying on their sides behind the house and I am praying that mamas can use this time to get the babies buried inside the huge trunks out. I don't want to go over there - there are no people around at all and they have until nightfall to maybe save a few.

I went over there when I was home at lunch and BEGGED them to use the baby bin I made up. I found it lying on its side in my backyard where someone hurled it.

There are squirrels all over there...looking for their babies...their homes. It is very, very warm tonight - I think I will go over there very late (or very early) with a flashlight after everyone is in bed and see if there are any visible stragglers.

I don't know how to process this. How do you un-know something like this? I am filled with such loathing and rage I don't know where to put it all. I feel like my brain is going to explode.

If I had dozens of nest boxes and an aerial lift to hang them I would be out there, believe me. I can't even begin to afford to do that though. I just hope they can find new homes soon... God.

OMG this is terrible.
How do you know the babies are dead that they came upon?
I am so very sorry this is happening.
Let me know if there is ANYTHING I can do. :hug

[SammysMom]

I wish that there was some way to turn back the clock, Lynn. People like this are soulless beings that are not understandable. I am so sorry that your wonderful natural world is being decimated by total fools. Sharing our world with people like this is the hardest part for most of us.
Godspeed precious lost innocents...:Love_Icon :Love_Icon :Love_Icon
I pray that the mamas who have babies there to be found alive, can find them and save them. I pray too, that you can get through this without losing the good outlook you have on life. :grouphug:Love_IconLynn:Love_Icon:grouphug

[Baxied]

This is just sickening..... I pray that some of your friends survive this unnecessary destruction of their homes. At least they have you for support. :grouphug

[Scott]

Sad, sad, sad...

[TubeDriver]

This is sickening. So many people have become souless monsters completely incapable of empathy or compassion.

Lynn, do what you can.:grouphug Pick up the pieces and help the adults and any babies you can. It is all you can do and even if it only helps a few it will make a difference. There is so much that is beyond our control, all we can do is continue the good fight.

I wish I could do something to help you. If you need some resource or help, please let me know and I will do my best to help.

Just thinking about this makes me ill, I know it is killing you inside. I also know that you will help those innocent little ones in any way you can and even if it feels helpless it will make a difference.

:grouphug:grouphug:grouphug

[CritterMom]

Just got in from my second check of the leftover stumps and trunks...nothing like creeping around under people's windows in the middle of the night... There is one huge nest inside one of them that is left, but it is so deep inside that laying on the trunk with my arm inside up to the armpits I can just touch the top... There is no movement and I can't see anything with the flashlight but that doesn't mean much.

I know what they did because the cutters were happy to share that info. They were belligerent with me to begin with - they made the neighborhood rounds last weekend and while I desperately need some limbing and trimming, I don't have 4-5 figures of $$ to pay for it. When I turned them down they got pissy and so they were more than happy to torture me.

If I ever DO hire anyone, I already have a name - I have spoken to them several times. They take great care with this - I watched them cut a big section of trunk out of a neighbor's tree and move it with their crane over to another tree and strap it to the trunk where they left it for several weeks before they came back to take it. It was a lot of work and the owner told me it is their POLICY. They aren't ALL monsters but this crew certainly is.

[Mel1959]

This whole situation is very sad and one you had no control over. What you do have control over is posting on yelp or this companies website how heartless and destructive they were to wildlife with their method of operation. You would be surprised at how many people read company reviews prior to hiring. Hit them where it hurts the most.....$.

[HRT4SQRLS]

This whole situation is very sad and one you had no control over. What you do have control over is posting on yelp or this companies website how heartless and destructive they were to wildlife with their method of operation. You would be surprised at how many people read company reviews prior to hiring. Hit them where it hurts the most.....$.
My exact thoughts. :mad:

[TubeDriver]

I hope you see some of your crew today.:grouphug

[island rehabber]

Lynn, words can't adequately describe how sorry and angry I am that you are going through this....I wish I were closer so I could help. Others have said it so well, especially SammysMom: " I am so sorry that your wonderful natural world is being decimated by total fools. Sharing our world with people like this is the hardest part for most of us."

[DarkLies212]

I don't even have the words. I'm SO so sorry. :hug I agree with a few others about leaving nasty reviews!

[Jen413]

I understand that there are people in this world that aren't animal lovers. What I can't understand is people who are so heartless that they would murder babies without a second thought. And that's exactly what these people did!! They had an opportunity and an option to save babies and they instead chose to be spiteful. I can't understand people like that. I think there must be something fundamentally wrong with them for them to be like this. I pray that any babies alive can be found. That those momma's can reunite with any of their surviving babies. Gob bless the momma's with broken hearts and homes. I just can't comprehend such cruelty. I guess that's because all of us on this board are on the complete opposite spectrum as people like that.

I pray you can find some surviving babies to either reunite or rehab. I pray that you can somehow find peace with this situation. I imagine it will be very difficult but don't let nasty people like that change your heart. If you do they will win. Don't let them win!!

[stepnstone]

The ugliest thing I have ever seen is a human species without compassion.
I'm sorry for the babies, mommas and you for having to endure this tragedy
perpetrated by the evils of mankind. My prayers for all affected...
289380

[Mel1959]

How are your furry friends doing? Were you able to reunite any mommas and babies?

[CritterMom]

No, unfortunately I was not. They continue to take more trees down each day. The ones they are cutting now are skinnier and not as likely to be nest trees - the hollows don't form until they get older. Their yard is going to be like a desert when they are done. I wonder if they realize they just cut all the trees that keep their house cool? Idiots.

One of the cutters is creepy as hell and I am keeping my distance - I scurry over there to look when they are gone. He was aggressively nasty to me with ZERO provocation - believe me I was at my absolute nicest and most polite when I first went over there - way over the top totally inappropriate nasty. You know how they talk about having the hair stand up on the back of your neck - he does this to me. There is something wrong there and I am staying off the grid as far as they are concerned.

The Cafe is still busy - I saw one of Boombalatti's daughters this morning (she and all of her offspring have angular, almost foxy faces which are very light in color - very distinctive). I hope I see her mom. I am gone all day so it isn't surprising to miss her. I sure hope she is okay.

[TubeDriver]

:grouphug

Be careful.

[SammysMom]

You told me once that I should trust my "spidy senses" and you should do the same...:grouphug

[Ekorre]

:grouphug CritterMom :grouphug

I agree, go with your gut. There are some truly nasty people in this world and it's best to give them a wide berth if possible.

It's great to hear that some of your squirrels are back! :Love_Icon

I still can't believe what your neighbours and those awful tree cutters did to those mamas and babies. If it breaks my heart just reading about it...I can only imagine what you must be going through. :sadness :hug

[gbrown]

I don't have anything of value to add, but I just wanted to let you know that I've been following this thread, and praying that God would bring those precious little families back together. I cried when I read about what happened, and I can't understand how evil and heartless someone would have to be to kill innocent babies like that. I am so sorry you had to watch that happen. :Love_Icon

[DRiddell]

Oh God, Feeling sad for your buddies. :(