by Jennifer Howard
Saturday night April 3rd we got an injured squirrel in. While everyone was enjoying their Easter Weekend, it wasn’t a good Easter for this girl.
Seriously infected wound on hind leg.A lady who feeds the squirrels on her property one day noticed this little girl needed her help. Something wasn’t right with her. She looked horrible. She called Procyon and had no problem catching the injured squirrel and got her into us. The squirrel had a wound on her hind foot and it was extremely and grotesquely swollen. She was cleaned up and put on medication.
Dr. Sherri Cox examining the squirrel.
Bullet travelled to the throatOn April 6th she was taken to see Dr. Sherri Cox at National Wildlife Centre. X-rays were needed and done while the squirrel was under sedation. What they found was not expected. This squirrel had been shot in the back leg. We don’t know when this happened but the x-rays showed a very bad infection in the bones and surrounding tissue, and the bullet that entered the foot had then travelled up into the throat of the animal. This may have gone very badly if left untreated. It may been her life. The bullet is shown in the x-ray as a small black dot at the front of the throat. And you can clearly see the massive swelling from infection.
This is a living, breathing being; it feels, it fears, it experiences pain. She came through her surgery well, and the bullet was successfully removed. But now she is struggling for her life. The next few days are critical for her. She is on extremely hard strong antibiotics in hopes she will overcome the horrible infection. We are hoping that we can get ahead of it. She went home with Sarah Marrs-Bruce, one of the Procyon Wildlife directors, so she can be watched carefully.
The bullet that was removed.
The squirrel is in good hands now.We are all rooting for this beautiful life. A life someone took it upon themselves to use for target practice. Our wildlife is not for people’s target practice. The pain she has suffered for however long to get an infection of this magnitude would have been excruciating. Absolute agony for this little life.
If you would like to help us with her care please arrange to send your donations to https://www.procyonwildlife.com/product-category/sponsorship-programs/
Resting in one of the incubators to keep her warm and comfortable.Help us to do our best to save this precious life. No animal deserves this kind of cruelty.
“HELP is in YOUR Hands”
- Photos by Sarah Marrs unless otherwise indicated.
Jen Howard
Procyon volunteer/photographer