R.I.P Chibi !
Friday afternoon April 21 a baby albino squirrel fell from a tree in our yard on to our driveway!
Clearly he was ill and not thriving, we don't know if that was true before his fall or if it was a result of his fall.
He remained in one spot on our driveway for so long, that we came out to see him , and he did not run away. In fact, at first we thought he was unable to walk.
He allowed the children and a neighbor boy to pet him. The kids wanted to bring him in the house and raise him as a pet. But I told them squirrels need to remain outside, in part because it's true, and in part, secretly, because I was afraid he'd survive and then we'd have a dependent squirrel living in my house. I'm really glad that I occasionally mentioned that this little squirrel was very ill and would probably not live long.
We put a shallow box outside and propped the fold-up lid pieces as a partial roof, and cut a section of a wall out so he could easily come and go. The children enjoyed feeding him bits of Ritz crackers and a few Cheerios. He allowed my daughter to pick him up off the driveway and place him in his box, on our lawn, away from the cars.
My 12 year old daughter named him Chibi, after the Japanese style of animation in which adult characters are temporarily drawn as an emotional large-headed child.
When we woke up on Saturday morning, we found that Chibi had crawled out and had curled up a few feet away on the grass. He was breathing shallowly and kind of twitching. But later that day he dragged himself right back to the same section of our driveway where he had originally fallen the day before!
His healthy, grey brothers and sisters climbed down the tree on Saturday afternoon. They explored the lawn, scratched around looking for food the way a healthy squirrel should, and were so naive they were willing to walk right up to our feet! But Chibi just stayed on the concrete drive way a few yards away from all the action, and stared straight ahead. He never tried to hunt for food.
A neighbor lady walked by and showed us we could move him carefully by scooping him up in her umbrella, and deposting him back in his box!
That afternoon we took the children to a shopping mall, and to Saturday evening Church, because my husband wasn't going to be able to go to church on Sunday, due to his work schedule. The children talked about Chibi the whole time and couldn't wait to get back to him and feed him more crackers and part of a banana.
At about 7:30 that night, my daughter took her overnight friend to check on him and they both saw him in his box . At about 8:30 another guest arrived but we couldn't find Chibi, he had wandered out again!
The next morning we couldn't find Chibi anywhere. The children were convinced that Chibi was now strong enough to climb back up the tree or wander in to a neighbor's yard . They talked about him all morning and kept going back outside to look for him again. But I came out by myself to find him. I knew he was never well enought to climb or to just run away. I spotted a batch of bright white beneath a very low-lying shrub in our front yard, and found Chibi's body all curled up under there, not breathing. My husband pulled it out with a shovel and we kept trying to jostle him, but he was just limp. We would have liked to bury him, but you can't buy animals in your yard. Other animals will try to dig them up. We had to place him in a plastic bag, and put him in a our dumpster.
My daughter was brave when I told her later. But I personally keep looking out the window, looking for Chibi. His siblings were playing in a neighbor's tree yesterday afternoon. We all miss Chibi.
Friday afternoon April 21 a baby albino squirrel fell from a tree in our yard on to our driveway!
Clearly he was ill and not thriving, we don't know if that was true before his fall or if it was a result of his fall.
He remained in one spot on our driveway for so long, that we came out to see him , and he did not run away. In fact, at first we thought he was unable to walk.
He allowed the children and a neighbor boy to pet him. The kids wanted to bring him in the house and raise him as a pet. But I told them squirrels need to remain outside, in part because it's true, and in part, secretly, because I was afraid he'd survive and then we'd have a dependent squirrel living in my house. I'm really glad that I occasionally mentioned that this little squirrel was very ill and would probably not live long.
We put a shallow box outside and propped the fold-up lid pieces as a partial roof, and cut a section of a wall out so he could easily come and go. The children enjoyed feeding him bits of Ritz crackers and a few Cheerios. He allowed my daughter to pick him up off the driveway and place him in his box, on our lawn, away from the cars.
My 12 year old daughter named him Chibi, after the Japanese style of animation in which adult characters are temporarily drawn as an emotional large-headed child.
When we woke up on Saturday morning, we found that Chibi had crawled out and had curled up a few feet away on the grass. He was breathing shallowly and kind of twitching. But later that day he dragged himself right back to the same section of our driveway where he had originally fallen the day before!
His healthy, grey brothers and sisters climbed down the tree on Saturday afternoon. They explored the lawn, scratched around looking for food the way a healthy squirrel should, and were so naive they were willing to walk right up to our feet! But Chibi just stayed on the concrete drive way a few yards away from all the action, and stared straight ahead. He never tried to hunt for food.
A neighbor lady walked by and showed us we could move him carefully by scooping him up in her umbrella, and deposting him back in his box!
That afternoon we took the children to a shopping mall, and to Saturday evening Church, because my husband wasn't going to be able to go to church on Sunday, due to his work schedule. The children talked about Chibi the whole time and couldn't wait to get back to him and feed him more crackers and part of a banana.
At about 7:30 that night, my daughter took her overnight friend to check on him and they both saw him in his box . At about 8:30 another guest arrived but we couldn't find Chibi, he had wandered out again!
The next morning we couldn't find Chibi anywhere. The children were convinced that Chibi was now strong enough to climb back up the tree or wander in to a neighbor's yard . They talked about him all morning and kept going back outside to look for him again. But I came out by myself to find him. I knew he was never well enought to climb or to just run away. I spotted a batch of bright white beneath a very low-lying shrub in our front yard, and found Chibi's body all curled up under there, not breathing. My husband pulled it out with a shovel and we kept trying to jostle him, but he was just limp. We would have liked to bury him, but you can't buy animals in your yard. Other animals will try to dig them up. We had to place him in a plastic bag, and put him in a our dumpster.
My daughter was brave when I told her later. But I personally keep looking out the window, looking for Chibi. His siblings were playing in a neighbor's tree yesterday afternoon. We all miss Chibi.
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