Lots of squirrels with hurt back legs?

[Wrinn]

In my neighborhood, I have noticed that a significant number of squirrels come up with hurt hind legs, sometimes with the foot mangled as if it's been through a shredder. There's been 5 this summer alone. How is this happening to them? Is someone trying to trap them? Is it the outdoor cats around the neighborhood (I've seen one squirrel get snatched up by a cat while running to its tree)? Do they fight amongst each other to the point of inflicting such severe injury? Is there anything I can do for them besides providing food and fresh water? I don't like seeing them in pain and so vulnerable. Thank you.

[Katkat]

Hi , my little guys foot looked Mangled up also. 4 weeks now and he is walking on it perfectly. We have Hawks here and coyotes... who really knows why they get hurt. But I like what you said about them fighting/playing with each other . They get pretty wild
Doing that. Can't wait to see what others post here.
:grouphug

[Spanky]

It is mating season, so seeing squirrels with minor injuries is not unusual. However, the number of injuries and the consistency of the injuries suggests something more nefarious than squirrels squabbling among themselves. I doubt this is a pattern of predator injuries.

I'd be more apt to believe there are ineffective traps being placed about. The injuries in the rear legs though seems counter to traps... at least snap type rat traps which might severely injure squirrels but not kill them.

I had a squirrel that had severe injuries from being caught in a small, lightweight live trap for rats which he was able to virtually destroy by biting and struggling. He was a bloody mess from head to toe, tangled in the mangled trap. His mouth was shredded, and teeth broken, from trying to chew his way out but he had other injuries as well.

The trap was set to humanely remove rats, but baited with peanut butter. Good intentions, poor execution I suppose... he survived, recovered and was released.

[Wrinn]

Thank you for the replies. I agree that the rear leg injuries seem counter to traps. I think if it were traps, especially the flip type for mice, we would be seeing more front foot / head type injuries?

There are quite a few more squirrels than usual right now, with all the babies, which is why I thought maybe they were fighting amongst themselves, being territorial. Or maybe it's just one squirrel that's particularly aggressive? The fact that it's always the back foot almost suggests that they're trying to run from something, but they're not quite fast enough to get away?

I don't know, but it just breaks my heart to see them like that, and I know it makes them more vulnerable to predators. We've been feeding the squirrels for over a year now, and it seems to be such a common occurrence. It's been happening to the poor little dudes since we started, so it's been going on a long time.