Dead squirrels

[T-rain]

A few separate trees we have removed this summer have had a squirrels or birds nest, unknown to me. So when it has hit the ground and i see a severely injured critter, I think its right to quickly put the animal out of misery. Of course I feel bad but I get back to business. My co-workers think I am the cruel one for killing them. Not like I Jump to the death blow instantly but if you know they wont survive in the bushes over night then its lights out. I guess it just bugs me cause I would feel guilty if I did not step up to the plate and end the suffering but I am criticized for doing so. Any one else have some squeamish coworkers?

 

[mikewhite85]

I hate it when I injure animals. A few weeks ago I cut through a limb on a hollow silver maple and found half a squirrel inside. I felt awful!

 

[tree md]

Not really squeamish, I have hunted squirrels since I was a kid... But, I dropped a chunk of wood about a month ago with a squirrel nest in the crotch... As it was late August, I never would have imagined it had babies in it. I was about to drop another chunk right on top of them when I heard them shrieking and it went right though me. I told my groundy to pick them up and put them somewhere safe in the shade. He made a nest for them and put them in his ball cap. I got down and made a few calls. The game warden sent someone out there to take them and care for them. They had no hair and their eyes weren't even open yet. Didn't have the heart to kill the little guys... Two out of three survived.

 

[Toddppm]

A few separate trees we have removed this summer have had a squirrels or birds nest, unknown to me. So when it has hit the ground and i see a severely injured critter, I think its right to quickly put the animal out of misery. Of course I feel bad but I get back to business. My co-workers think I am the cruel one for killing them. Not like I Jump to the death blow instantly but if you know they wont survive in the bushes over night then its lights out. I guess it just bugs me cause I would feel guilty if I did not step up to the plate and end the suffering but I am criticized for doing so. Any one else have some squeamish coworkers?

I guess it depends on how you're putting them out of their misery are you stomping on them to get it over quick or drowning them in a bucket or something?

Had a couple small ones climbing out to the ends of the branches I was dead wooding couple weeks ago, was so cute how they would hold on with both arms to those little twigs until I got down and saw that one had fell out and died

 

[troythetreeman]

its not wrong to end misery, its humane
but, mother squirrels will come find the babies and take them to a different nest, squirrels usually build several
you can, like the man said, call the dnr or take them to an animal rescue
i have actually raised a few myself, its difficult and they have a high mortality rate, my cousins wife is a vet, she advised me to use Esbilac puppy milk replacer
once you get them off the bottle theyre very cool and will hang out till fall when they take of for squirrel things

 

[oscar4883]

We also found some baby squirrels very late in the season TreeMD. Normally we will move the critters to a safer spot and on occasion put a critter out of its misery. Luckily there is a good size rescue operation about ten min. from my house and depending on the the situation I drop off on my way home. The lady that runs the rescue says she gets about 75 baby squirrels a year. Mostly brought in by local tree companies. Kudos to anyone who raises them at home. Takes a ton of dedication.

 

[squirrel64]

If you ever need to keep and feed the babies for a few days this is the best stuff

http://foxvalleynutrition./prod/products.asp?PLID=1


I've raised and released quite a few over the years. This stuff is pretty expensive but it can be kept in the freezer for quite a while until you need it. I just saw a momma carry her babies off for the first time the other day. Taking down a big dead ash in DC . It was pretty neat, she got one situated in her mouth and carried them down a telephone span to another tree. Then came and got the other. I just love those little critters !

View attachment 200698

 

[mitch95100]

Ive hunted squirrels and it dosent bother me a bit just line em up and squeeze. It bothers me when your cutting a tree and you see them like in slow motin hit the ground and suffer. Shooting a squirrel is quick but seeing them slowly dying in pain and suffering is what bothers me
On the other hand cats... i just wont go their today lol

 

[ducaticorse]

I got one last august who was a day old pinky no hair and no eyes. Raised him through the winter and let him go. Had a blast with him. Here are a cpl pics of when he was a juvenile.

 

[troythetreeman]

pictures of the tree rats, lol
i too have hunted and eaten many a squirrel, quite good when cooked right
but i grew up on a farm, i have no problem petting a steer for 8 months and eating him the next day
his purpose was food and he had a good life till the end
so yeah, hunting or killing for food or humanities sake are not the same as maliciously killing for killings sake
im also on the same page tho as mitch, especially wild house cats, theyre feral and they dont belong and devastate the local small wildlife population

dang it i totally cant figure out how to upload pictures of my little tree dwellers
my fav one was a fox squirrel, she went almost everywhere with me, she would sit on my shoulder as big as my head

 

[no tree to big]

up until the last couple weeks we have been taking trees down with baby squirels ranging of all ages luckely havn't chopped up or dropped any yet we did cut down a tree that had a rotting squirel in it though no nest or anything I think it was just hanging out in a crotch talk about stinky we could still smell it once we moved 300 feet down the road and started the next tree (down wind)

 

[Bigus Termitius]

I just tell people: "They'll make more!"

 

[treeclimber101]

last winter I chased a fat momma racoon with a hanger pole , she tried to jump in the bucket with me 2xs finally she gave up and ran down the tree and into the woods , little did that ungrateful ##### know that I saved her life I could have flipped the top with her in it ... I have a friend that had a squirrel handed trained that lived in the prisoner cab of the chip truck , funny thing is though if you stuck him on a tree he couldn't climb never learned ... He eventually took a chunk outta his daughters finger than got punted into the woods literally , didn't see him too much after that ....

 

[ducaticorse]

View attachment 200734

last winter I chased a fat momma racoon with a hanger pole , she tried to jump in the bucket with me 2xs finally she gave up and ran down the tree and into the woods , little did that ungrateful ##### know that I saved her life I could have flipped the top with her in it ... I have a friend that had a squirrel handed trained that lived in the prisoner cab of the chip truck , funny thing is though if you stuck him on a tree he couldn't climb never learned ... He eventually took a chunk outta his daughters finger than got punted into the woods , didn't see him too much after that ....

Mine could climb the F outta everything in my house, and he never bit. He did however go 100 percent berzerk when someone he didn't know came near his cage when he was in it. He was really quite the pet. Super playful, played tag with the cats, and my 100lb Doberman never bothered him. I had the animal house here in Boston.....

 

[russhd1997]

I show the squirrels no mercy here. They chew on my maple tubing causing vacuum leaks that make for a lot of repair work. Not fun when the snow is up to my crotch.

 

[stihl.logger]

i'm sure i've rained on a few squirrels parade but don't ever really notice in the aftermath of tops thru the woods, i did however come across a nest of 3 baby owls in a hollow limb in a cherry this summer. little guys survived the tree dropping, the skidder ride to the landing, and me cutting into their hollow limb nest. Owls are rare around here so i wasn't sure if they were endangered. called the local DNR and they were out within an hour to pick em up. the officer said they would raise them and release them in the same area sometime this fall. kinda amazing what the little critters can survive.

 

[Section VIII]

Not really tree related...

A baby squirrel got scared and hung on to the brick wall next to the front door for a good 5 hours after dark. So I picked him up with gloves and placed him in an old hamster cage. Ran out and got some emisac (sp) and fed him some. Next morning, I carried him over to the base of the closest tree to the front door and waited for momma. Baby squirrel scurried right back to up the wall of the house. I took him off the house and this time, made sure he was grabbing the bark a few feet up the tree. Seconds later, I watched from inside the house as momma climbed down and picked up the baby. I felt pretty good about that.

However, a couple days later, I was going to mow the yard and forgot to check under the deck to make sure no rabbits were hiding out under there (they usually run out from underneath as soon as I get within 8 feet). Anyway, I pull on the mower starter cord. Felt like trying to start a mower in 2 feet of grass after the blades are already clogged. Pulled the mower back and my heart sank as I had just mortally wounded a sleeping baby rabbit. Got the shovel and separated his head from his body in one quick chop and buried him in the garden.

Didn't tell the little ones about it.

 

[superjunior]

Was taking a maple down this spring and noticed a hawk in a tree across the street watching my every move. He was about eye level with me, didn't think much of it, just hey cool theres a hawk. Dropped a hollow chunk down and three young squirells went running out. Two went running towards the customers house and one booked under the chipper and across the road, and that apparently was what the hawk was waiting for. He swooped down and snatched that little squirell up. It was a site to see

 

[no tree to big]

today I thought I was witnessing the start to a squirrel armegedon or something we finished up a job pulled around the corner, because we had a busy road shut down, so we could take lunch. we park then all of a sudden there were squirrels coming from EVERYWHERE there were like 15-20 in 150 feet of curb line. I'm not gonna lie I rolled up the window just to be safe :msp_ohmy:

I watched one guy bury nuts then another was watching him and would dig the recently buried nut up and take it to his stash while the one went to get another he jacked 5 or 6 it was hilarious

on another note I heard a horrible story today about a squirrel incedent a few years ago. keep in mind this is a village job, Climber makes a cut chops a momma squirrel in half branch hit the ground three or four babies pop out (there are a bunch of kids(5-8yrs old) sitting on the front porch the next house over from the tree maybe 5 or 6 plus a couple parents) then one of the groundies grabs a shovel and proceeds to hit the babies while the kids are watching the whole thing then all the kids start screaming and crying can you say situation not good then to make things even better he then scopped them up and threw them in the chipper, while the kids are still out side and freaking out