I just realized that I never gave an update on my Squirrel friend. Sadly, he did not make it. He had some serious injuries within including spinal trauma and in what would be best for him, he was put to sleep.
I know he wasn't a resident of the backyard or too close since I didn't see him daily. I suspect he did some traveling to get here when he did come to visit. My guess is in his travels he may have been clipped by a car.
It sucks but at least he is not in pain any longer.
I will miss him.
Rest in peace my friend. Thank you for the friendship and memories. You touched my heart in those few short months.
And now it's time for another backyard rescue to take place. This photo was taken on Tuesday July 12.
I had just gotten out of bed. I'm not a speedy "waker-upper" kinda human these days. I'm rather zombie-like and desperately need a coffee and a few minutes (sometimes more) to come to life. But a cool backyard critter can give me the jolt I need as well, like this Skunk.
It was around 7am. I'm excited to see him in the morning light. I quickly get dressed, grab my camera and go out the front door, and then sneak up the side of the house so as to not spook him. As I got him in my sights, it was then that I noticed the "trashy bling" around his neck. I snapped off half a dozen photos, watching him move about the garden, and started thinking about what to do. We recently bought a live trap since we've had to borrow one numerous times over the years to trap injured mammals. It's too early to call Toronto Wildlife about this but with my experience in the last couple years as a volunteer I know this... #1 contain him, #2 call them about the situation, and from there things would get moving rather quickly to help him.
Unfortunately he was already heading off to bed by the time I got my s**t together, getting the cob webs out of my brain and grabbing the trap and some bait (was going to try some chicken).
I still set out the trap because I have seen them come through as late as 10 or 11am some summer mornings, when I thought they had gone off to bed already. I was home for the morning so I was going to check the trap periodically. NEVER LEAVE A LIVE TRAP UNATTENDED FOR LENGTHY PERIODS OF TIME!
I called Toronto Wildlife and told them of the situation.
Since then, it's been a waiting game for his return.
I was out back Wednesday at 5:30am, setting the trap and waiting. No luck.
I set it up again this rainy morning too. No luck... yet.
I will try again tomorrow, and through the weekend if need be.
I cannot leave the trap set all night because we have a couple Skunks, a couple Opossums and a family of Raccoons that cruise our backyard. It must be done in my waking moments. The brutal humidity of this week has not made things any easier or enjoyable. I'm a gross mess by the time I get home from work at 10:30pm. We have no a/c in the warehouse. So after 8+ hours away in this nastiness, I just want to shower and chill out in the comforts of home. I do have a quick peek for him before I go into unwind mode.
I've since named him "Mick". I got the name after a brief conversation with Andrew from TWC. He made mention of the lid being from a McFlurry treat from McDonald's.
I do hope I can catch him sooner than later if the lid does not somehow come off through his travels, or he miraculously squeezes out of it.
Angie and I are very conscientious about our trash, ensuring nothing going in the bins is going to get some wild animal into trouble later on. It's shitty not everyone thinks like that. This waste may have been thrown from someone's car window or it came from an over packed recycle bin. Who knows? I never thought about these lids needing to be cut, but then again, I don't consume such treats and don't come across anything with such lids. But if I ever do in the future, I will certainly make sure it is cut apart.
Someone shared this link with me. Give it a read if you have a moment. As you can see, this problem is everywhere. Some of the animals are lucky to stumble into the right backyards and get the help they need.
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