My husband and I rescued an approximately three week eastern gray from our burn barrel. We were burning limbs only to hear her scream. Momma had made a nest in the bottom of the barrel. She had severe burns down her back, her right leg and tail. We didn’t expect her to survive the night but when she did we decided to try and rehab her. It was in the beginning of my county’s covid19 quarantine so the rehab person didn’t seem inclined to take her and couldn’t really help me.they suggested my vet. My vet said he could not take her. Well long story short I started reading everything I could find on caring for her and tomorrow she will be nine weeks. I treated her burns as best as I could and she eventually healed except her tail died. She has a little furry nub that’s bald on top like a cute little jellybean and a big scar down her back that is now partially furred. My intention has always been to release her. I’ve read everywhere that not releasing a wild squirrel is cruel. My concern is is she gonna survive without it. Can she balance, communicate, stay warm and all the squirrel things without it? I don’t want to release her if it’s more dangerous for her. We try to take great care for her and have a large 6x2x3’ enclosure we built with a tree for her to climb that we made from branches. She plays with us lots. Jumps, darts around snorts and kinda purrs and eats really well. She’s starting to wean now. Really only wants one good bottle daily. Blocks, seeds, some pecans, fruit, greens, flowers and leaves etc... Of course right now she’s still taking a little formula too. if it it too risky to release her with this “handicap” I could just make her a bigger enclosure so she has a lot of room. Its just hard to know what is really best for her. We have hawks, owls, dogs,cats, coons and coyotes in my area. It’s getting close to time to make this decision and now I’m getting really nervous. We are terribly in love with her and would rather keep her safe as our “pet” than release her for eminent death. Am I being ridiculous?