“He could hardly move and, really, I’m amazed he was still alive.”
In the Canadian province of New Brunswick, two teenagers were hanging out when they noticed a large group of people gathered around a car. When the young creature emerged, the teens were shocked to see that he didn’t even remotely resemble a squirrel. When they went over to investigate, they learned that there was a squirrel underneath the car who was in dire need of assistance.
The foam insulation used to patch up holes in homes had somehow managed to cover the squirrel. He probably ran through the wet material by accident, and when it dried all over him, the poor little guy could hardly move.
The two teenagers, Jaydon Pettipas and Aidan Hart, had compassion for the injured squirrel right away and realized that unless someone intervened quickly, he wouldn’t survive. They hurried into a grocery store, grabbed a milk crate they could use to contain the squirrel, and then immediately began calling friends and family to ask for advice.
According to Dr. Melanie Eagan, owner of the St. George Veterinary Clinic, “one of the boys’ moms finally called me at the vet clinic after calling a few people for assistance.”
The group drove over 21 miles to the St. George Veterinary Clinic to deliver the squirrel after speaking with Eagan on the phone in the hopes that Eagan might be able to save his life. Eagan could hardly believe her eyes when they brought the squirrel to her and gave it to her to take care of.
He could hardly move, and I’m actually surprised he was still alive considering that most of his mouth and nostrils were covered in foam, according to Eagan. His back legs could move a little, but the rest of his body was immovably fixed in place.
Eagan quickly put the squirrel to sleep before beginning the laborious process of removing all of the foam insulation from its tiny body with rubbing alcohol and a flea comb. She was shocked when her efforts actually succeeded.
“It took about an hour,” Eagan said. “There were some patches of fur gone and some abrasions on his skin, but in the end he didn’t look too bad!”
Eagan was surprised that she was able to assist the squirrel in surviving given the state he had been in when he had arrived. The squirrel curled up and fell asleep for a few hours after his harrowing experience, and Eagan stayed at the clinic to keep an eye on him throughout that time.
Eagan was thrilled to see how happy he was to be healthy and free once more when he was finally awake and obviously feeling so much better when he was able to be released back into the wild.
He was very eager to leave the clinic and climb a tree, according to Eagan. He wouldn’t have survived if those adolescent boys hadn’t intervened.
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