Helping Tortoises and Others
Posted at 9:07 am May 21, 2009 by Paula Kahn
There are more than tortoises at the San Diego Zoo’s Desert Tortoise Conservation Center in Las Vegas!
While Research Associate Daniel Essary was working on site over the weekend, he found a baby ground squirrel that was too weak and dehydrated to run away from him. So he did what any other bunny hugger, or in this case squirrel hugger, would have done. He brought it to Research Associate Rachel Foster, who has nursed hundreds of squirrels, opossums, bunnies, and other furry little critters back to health over the past 20 years.
Rachel knew immediately that she could help the little guy who had likely been separated from his mom. She has been feeding him warm kitten formula for the past several days, and it’s certainly paying off. He’s much more alert and active, and Rachel thinks he’ll be ready to be released right here on site very soon. This facility may be a tortoise center at heart, but our tortoises live in a complex ecosystem, so we need to take care of everything that lives here, even if it’s cute and furry.
Paula Kahn is a conservation program manager for the San Diego Zoo’s Institute for Conservation Research. Read her previous post, Tortoises Recover from Illness, Injury.
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May 21st, 2009 at 5:46 pm
Awwwwww, he’s soo cute! Glad he was found in time for you to help him.
May 22nd, 2009 at 8:58 am
thank you for your dedication. i have a soft spot for squirrels.
May 22nd, 2009 at 12:03 pm
Ahhhhhhh! Love to see the animals that people help.
May 26th, 2009 at 7:49 am
Yet another animal saved from Darwinism. There might be a reason it was unable to run away…sickness, weakness…but, just like humans, we decide who, and what, lives or dies, inciting the utmost blasphemy.
May 26th, 2009 at 10:40 am
Thank you for saving the squirrel. I know a lot of people think they’re pests (they do here in the UK), but I love them and they have their own feeding box so they leave my bird feeders alone (well, sort of!). They are so cute when they take a monkey nut from your hand; mind you, I notice they seem to like the look of my big toes – must look like a peanut!!
May 26th, 2009 at 7:19 pm
Mac,
You are correct: survival of the fittest would have eliminated this squirrel from the population if Daniel hadn’t scooped him up. But as biologists, tortoise huggers, and carers of all creatures, when an animal is suffering in our presence, we cannot help but to provide some assistance. This little guy certainly beat the odds by living through the desert heat and a variety of potential predators before Daniel came upon him. But be assured that he will soon be released to live a normal squirrel life where Darwin’s rules will be at play once again.
June 5th, 2009 at 4:13 pm
Good, interesting article, but where took information?
November 8th, 2009 at 12:07 am
Thank you for helping this little cutie. I also see a squirrel in my apartmemt grassy area now and then, I leave peanuts just in case he comes searching. I dont know maybe there is something in me that wants to save everything, but I feed the squirrels at work too, my co-worker just happened to say (not seeing me do it) but that they bite and have flees and rabies…I don’t care, that little squirrel never gets close to people but seems he waits for me to put down peanuts or corn kernals….I wont be at that worksite forever, they move us around, but I am happy for as long as I get to do it………and know God will help him find seeds or what ever when I leave…….lizards and snakes can go their way but anything furry I love……..