Advice on Releasing

[Brandon, Anna and Barbas]

Hi and thank you for your help; my orphaned squirrel is 5-6 weeks old and has been under my fiance and I's care for about a week now. When he came to us, he was starving and dehydrated but is doing great now.

I am torn and need advice on whether to release a squirrel that I have been caring for or not. I work from home and my fiance is epileptic which bounds her to the house most of the time due to her condition. We only get out of the house to go to the store so we are fully willing and able to put in the work, money, care and attention to keep him if we need once he's an adult. I've read that it is not suggested to release them if they aren't afraid of predators including humans, and he is very comfortable with people. We also made the mistake (which we are definitely not going to make twice) of letting my mother in law watch him for a 30-45 minute trip to the store for formula. We told her explicitly and repeatedly not to let her dog around him as he will not recognize dogs as threats if he becomes comfortable with them. We come back and she has let the dog (a chihuahua) and a kitten play with him. As a result, he has no fear of dogs or cats and acts as if he wants to play with them. Our backyard and the area we live in is full of coyotes, which makes me very nervous. We have a big back yard with a few trees, but we also have neighbors who will shoot squirrels that they catch eating out of their bird feeders with pellet guns, or just shoot them for fun unfortunately.

I also don't want him to be unhappy with his life as a captive squirrel. If we were to keep him, our plans were to convert our spare room in the house in to a large (but squirrel proof) enclosure tailored for a tree squirrel for the rare times when we can't actively keep an eye on him or play with him. I know that would never amount to what he would get from living in the wild, though. What should I do?

[stepnstone]

Hi and thank you for your help; my orphaned squirrel is 5-6 weeks old and has been under my fiance and I's care for about a week now. When he came to us, he was starving and dehydrated but is doing great now.

I am torn and need advice on whether to release a squirrel that I have been caring for or not. I work from home and my fiance is epileptic which bounds her to the house most of the time due to her condition. We only get out of the house to go to the store so we are fully willing and able to put in the work, money, care and attention to keep him if we need once he's an adult. I've read that it is not suggested to release them if they aren't afraid of predators including humans, and he is very comfortable with people. We also made the mistake (which we are definitely not going to make twice) of letting my mother in law watch him for a 30-45 minute trip to the store for formula. We told her explicitly and repeatedly not to let her dog around him as he will not recognize dogs as threats if he becomes comfortable with them. We come back and she has let the dog (a chihuahua) and a kitten play with him. As a result, he has no fear of dogs or cats and acts as if he wants to play with them. Our backyard and the area we live in is full of coyotes, which makes me very nervous. We have a big back yard with a few trees, but we also have neighbors who will shoot squirrels that they catch eating out of their bird feeders with pellet guns, or just shoot them for fun unfortunately.

I also don't want him to be unhappy with his life as a captive squirrel. If we were to keep him, our plans were to convert our spare room in the house in to a large (but squirrel proof) enclosure tailored for a tree squirrel for the rare times when we can't actively keep an eye on him or play with him. I know that would never amount to what he would get from living in the wild, though. What should I do?

With your reasoning's to keep him outweighing reasons for release, sounds to me as if your already convincing yourselves to keep him as a "pet."
That being said my personal feeling is a healthy squirrel should be released to live it's life free in the trees as their lives were intended.
Regardless of warnings and intentions, many home raised squirrels are exposed to other pets in the household. When given a proper soft release
with allowing them time to wild up and letting their natural instincts take over most do, and what was once in their captive lives become viewed as
a predator in their wild lives that their instincts will steer them clear of.

[Brandon, Anna and Barbas]

I didn't mean to come off as if my intentions were to convince myself to keep him as a "pet", I'm sorry you thought that but I understand why. I am only worried about his survival, and would not have come looking for advice on the subject if I was trying to convince myself to keep him while disregarding the possibility to release him and ensure survival. I suppose to avoid people assuming that I was making this post with no intentions of taking the advice I was looking for I should have not mentioned any variables that would cause him to be unsafe in the backyards of my neighborhood, that was my bad. As I said myself, I want him to be healthy, alive and HAPPY, and like I said, squirrels are happier in the wild. I was coming to experienced rehabilitators like yourself for information on his likelihood to thrive. Thank you for your help, it is very reassuring to know that he probably wont put himself in the line in of danger of predators without realizing it.

[stepnstone]

I didn't mean to come off as if my intentions were to convince myself to keep him as a "pet", I'm sorry you thought that but I understand why. I am only worried about his survival, and would not have come looking for advice on the subject if I was trying to convince myself to keep him while disregarding the possibility to release him and ensure survival. I suppose to avoid people assuming that I was making this post with no intentions of taking the advice I was looking for I should have not mentioned any variables that would cause him to be unsafe in the backyards of my neighborhood, that was my bad. As I said myself, I want him to be healthy, alive and HAPPY, and like I said, squirrels are happier in the wild. I was coming to experienced rehabilitators like yourself for information on his likelihood to thrive. Thank you for your help, it is very reassuring to know that he probably wont put himself in the line in of danger of predators without realizing it.

A personal opinion is just that, no personal judgement intended on those who do keep as pets....
When one considers all the predators both land and air that they have to exist around it's pretty amazing.
These babies are far more intelligent and their wild instincts more hard wired then we could ever give them credit for.

[Brandon, Anna and Barbas]

A personal opinion is just that, no personal judgement intended on those who do keep as pets....
When one considers all the predators both land and air that they have to exist around it's pretty amazing.
These babies are far more intelligent and their wild instincts more hard wired then we could ever give them credit for.

I appreciate your help, and animals are very good at protecting themselves naturally. I'm glad that I can rest easy knowing he will know what to do when the time comes; with the way Fish and Wildlife treats the matter you would think they could never return to a life in the wild if they're comfortable with humans.