Yggdrasil Urban Wildlife Rescue (YUWR) and Education Center

This last sunday at the Temescal Farmer’s Market, in the middle of the hustle and bustle, a squirrel’s nest fell. The nest of leaves landed on the ground amidst passing shoppers, stomping feet, and curious children and dogs. One of the vendors was on it, though. She heard the crying baby, saw the frantic mother run away in a panic. She had the presence of mind to protect the nest and call our wildlife center for advice.

We told her that the best thing to do would be to get the mother to reunite with her baby(s) but that it was unlikely to happen in the middle of the farmer’s market. The vendor was willing to stay late after the fair was over to try to reunite this baby with it’s mother so we asked her to protect the nest until the market ended and things quieted down. She put the nest in a boxand kept it safe until the market closed.  Luckily we also had a volunteer willing to run down there and help. Margaret met the vendor after the farmer’s market ended and when it was quiet again, together they took the nest with the baby in it to the base of the tree he had fallen out of.  We told them to expose the baby slightly to the elements so he would cry in discomfort from the sudden change in temperature and then back away from the nest, watching from a distance to make sure the nest was left alone by passing people and animals.

They did not have to wait long. The squirrel baby let out a loud “Eeeep! Eeeep! Eeeep! ” and from hidden in the branches, the frantic mother made her way down the tree, grabbed her baby like a mother cat would a kitten, and carried him back up into the tree’s protective branches to her new nest.

Well Done to the Farmer’s Market Vendor, assisted by our volunteer Margaret!

This is the perfect ending we wish for all the wildlife emergencies. The vendor did everything right.

Unfortunately, not all wildlife emergencies end this way.  Most end with the babies being brought into care at our facility.  Reuniting is the best way to go, but it does require dedication of time and care from the finder as well as our volunteers.

If you see a nest fall, or a baby animal in trouble, give us a call and we can talk you through how to reunite a baby with it’s mother, if possible. If not, we will always be here to give loving care to wildlife orphans.  (510) 421-9897

These are the two older squirrels in care with the Moses Family –  Lucie, Dean, Felix and Milo.

They are doing great!

Keep up the good work – and keep the great photos coming!!!

Photo by the Moses Family

The babies from THIS post?

Well here they are!

Lucy B. took really excellent care of them, round the clock, taking them from critical to stable condition.

And boy have they grown!

They are now in foster care with Tina, where she will care for them until they are all grown and ready for release!

Good Work Ladies!!

I wanted to let everyone know that ALL our babies are doing great!

• The two newborn squirrels have done well, tripling their weights and are no longer in critical condition, in the very capable and loving hands of Lucy Burlingham.

• The opossums are all growing by leaps and bounds – and oddly, they are STILL blonde! We thought their yellow coloration was due to dirt but after bathing them, they are still blonde. It will be fascinating to see if they keep this coloration as they mature. Blondes do have more fun, right?

• The 5 orphaned baby raccoons are also growing well in the loving hands of volunteers on our raccoon team, Rancho Raccoon. Read about their progress at “The Treehouse”, Rancho’s blog at http://www.ranchoraccoon.wordpress.com

In addition to the babies we have written about above, we have received in many other babies, including more baby squirrels and opossums.

One of these baby squirrels was found when his nest fell out of the tree and onto a parked car! The owner of the car was a kind man from El Cerrito, who stood back and watched as the mother squirrel, in a panic, after falling with the nest and injuring her leg in the fall, carried off one of her babies to her “backup” nest (mother squirrels always have at least one backup nest).  It usually takes 15 minutes for a mother squirrel to relocate each baby in a nest, and this mother was moving slowly due to her new injury. The man needed to move his car so he had to remove the nest from his roof. He placed the nest at thebase of the tree and drove off, but he called us to alert us to the problem right away.

An hour went by and it was starting to get dark. The mother had been unable to return for her remaining baby. The wind had blown the nest into the gutter. Luckily, the man had returned and retrieved the remaining baby from the nest before darkness fell and a car drove over it. We met him at the location and took the baby into care. This baby is doing great in the very capable and loving hands of Lucie Moses and her family. Thank you to the good sameritan from El Cerrito, and to Lucie, Dean, Felix and Milo for their hard work caring for this sweetheart – and the other sweetheart they have as well.

Their other sweetheart was found by a caring community in Berkeley. They witnessed the nest fall from the tree in their backyard. Two babies fell, one into the creek, swept away by the fast current, and the other clung to a ledge overhanging the creekbed 10 feet below. They were able to climb out and retrieve the lone survivor and cared for him by warming him and wrapping him in soft blankets while they searched the internet for what to do with him. They called us and we were able to take him into care, where he has thrived. Now he and the El Cerrito baby snuggle togetherin a nest that is human-made, growing and sleeping. Their eyes are still closed but they are getting nice and furry.

Photo provided by Lucie and Dean Moses

The other babies are doing well also.

We are somewhat concerned that due to the economic crisis in our country, there have been ZERO donations for the last few months. We are a 100% donation-funded, volunteer-run 501c3 non-profit organization. Please, for the sake of these babies and the others we will be receiving in the coming months, consider making a tax-deductible donation to us. You can mail checks to:

Yggdrasil Urban Wildlife Rescue (or YUWR)

7036 Balsam Way

Oakland, CA 94611

Or make a donation online using a credit card or bank draft via Paypal from our DONATION page.

Thank you for your interest. Please check back regularly to see our latest patients and exciting news!

We received our first baby raccoons for 2009 today.

In normal years, baby raccoons start coming in around late April.

These beautiful 5 orphans are about 10-15 days old.  Their mother was trapped and exterminated for trespassing in an attic. She left behind her cozy nest with 5 hungry babies in it.

Unfortunately it is all too common for pest control companies to trap and kill wildlife instead of solving the real problem that is attracting the wild animal into our homes. In this case the raccoon was looking for a warm quiet place to give birth and raise her babies. An attic is perfect for that. She found a hole and moved in. To solve this problem, the hole needs to be sealed so animals cannot get into the attic. Trapping the animal does not solve the problem, but it does earn hundreds of dollars for the trapper. No matter that these beautiful babies were left behind to die from starvation and cold. No matter that as soon as it is discovered that this nice quiet attic is empty, a new raccoon will move in, which will make more $$$ for the trapper.  The ones who suffer are the animals – and the customers, who believe they are solving their problem but really aren’t.

Please, if you have a wildlife problem and want to trap wildlife, call Good Riddance – a Humane Wildlife Exclusion company, instead of calling the trappers. Good Riddance costs much less and will actually SOLVE your problem instead of a quick temporary fix that costs lots in $$ and in lives.  Good Riddance can be reached at: (415) 342-7956.

Now we have these sweet little ones and will do our best to raise them. However, the cost of raising these 5 orphaned baby raccoons will be several hundreds of dollars in food and supplies. As we run completely on donations (which have practically stopped with the economic crisis) we hope that someone will step up to sponsor these sweet little ones.

These babies are in the capable and caring hands of our volunteers at Rancho Raccoon, our wonderful raccoon team. You can read more about these sweet babies on the Rancho Raccoon blog, “The Treehouse”,  at: http://ranchoraccoon.wordpress.com/