As told by veteran volunteer Ellie Peevler

Several years ago, a woman from Louisville brought a baby squirrel to Greenwood Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. Evidently, the baby squirrel’s nest had been disturbed and the mama squirrel moved her young ones to a new location, leaving this little squirrel behind.

A bit later, the same woman called to say that the mother squirrel was running around the yard frantically searching for her baby. Since I am a Greenwood volunteer and live in Louisville, Greenwood called to see if I could possibly take the baby back to the yard it had come from and try to reunite it with its mother.

Greenwood’s Animal Care Coordinator suggested that I put the baby in a shallow box with some soft cloths and put the box in a partially sunny spot near a tree in the yard. Then she said to sit down in a corner of the yard to watch, and if the mother didn’t come for the baby, to return it to Greenwood. Luckily, it was a warm, sunny day so I found a lawn chair, tucked myself into a corner and waited and watched.

After more than an hour, I was ready to give up and put the baby in the car when out of the corner of my eye, I saw an adult squirrel come over a fence at the other end of the yard. She walked across the entire fence, then made a circuit around the yard and finally found the box with the baby. I sat there motionless and watched as she sniffed the box. Then she picked up the baby with her mouth.

She started to carry it in the direction she had come from, but then she suddenly turned and came across the yard to where I was sitting. She carried her treasure right past my feet. I was breathless and my feeling at that moment was overwhelming. Was she thanking me? I think so.