'He Doesn't Know He's A Squirrel; He Thinks He's A Dog'

KOMO 4 NEWS ^ | October 11, 2005 | Tracy Vedder

[Jet Jaguar]

SEATTLE - This is a story about a mother, a baby in dire need and how the two came together.

It didn't matter that they didn't come from the same place, or look at all alike -- they weren't even the same species! But instinct took over when the need was greatest.

Debby Cantlon of Seattle explains: "He doesn't know he's a squirrel; he thinks he's a dog."

She's talking about Finegan, the squirrel. He could be excused for thinking he's a dog, that's how he's being raised.

Rescued at just a few days old, Finegan had fallen from a tree, his mother beside him, dead.

"I didn't think that he was going to make it, he was so dehydrated," says Cantlon.

A friend brought Finegan to Cantlon. She has a knack saving injured birds, squirrels, and raccoons. But Finegan's eyes weren't even open yet -- it was touch and go.

Then Debby's dog Mademoiselle Giselle stepped in.

"Apparently she thought it was a puppy of hers and she was gonna have him, no matter what."

Debby continued to bottle feed the squirrel, but Giselle pulled the extra shifts. Finegan began nursing right alongside the five puppies -- just another littermate burrowing for position.

Now, at six weeks old, while the puppies are still barely walking, Finegan is a rambunctious juvenile. He's strong, can climb just about anything and is into everything.

Finegan was fascinated by KOMO 4 News photographer Randy Carnell and his camera -- he wouldn't stop crawling all over it, nibbling everything, including Randy.

All this is a sign, says Debby, that Finegan is close to being ready to go back into the wild. Once he can crack open and eat nuts and seeds, it will be time.

"My biggest reward is to watch them go free," says Cantlon. "It just makes my heart soar."

But, before then, there will still be a few last bottles and a lot of snuggling with his littermates. While they take a midday nap, Cantlon whispers in the background, "That's what I get out of this. What a gift, what a gift.

[sweetliberty]

ROTFL! Too funny.

[Rebelbase]

LOL! Too funny!

[SlowBoat407]

Laughing and crying at the same time.

[Zacs Mom]

That sounds like the time an American Goldfinch flew into one of my windows ... it was stunned, but not seriously injured. I brought the little guy into the house and tended to it until it seemed to have sufficiently recovered. It was alert with no visible injuries so I decided to release him out a second floor window unto a flat roof where I normally feed the birds. (I'd scatter seeds onto the flat roof and the birds would feed there all day)

Well, I opened the window and set the little finch down onto the roof. He just sat there looking back at me. "Come on", I said, "you're okay. You can make it." I offered encouragingly as I reached out and gave him a gentle nudge with my finger.

The little guy took about three hops and then swoosh! ~ out of nowhere, a Sharp-shined Hawk swooped down and nailed the little critter!!!

"Aw geez!" I thought ~ "I'll bet you're sure glad I made sure you were alert to experience that, huh little guy !"



Since I worked with hawks at that time my friends all unjustly accused me of using this poor little finch to chum hawks to my rooftop!



Which, of course I hadn't .... although, as the hawk just sat there with his free lunch staring at me, I'm not so sure he wasn't thinking the same thing!

[Ditto]

I saw a dog bring in a baby rabbit one and start nursing it. Motherly instinct is a powerful force.

[MEG33]

Love it!

[null and void]

ping

[Wuli]

Thanks for delivery of the morning chuckle.

Humans are not that much further than your dogs, as everything they do not understand becomes "supernatural".

[HairOfTheDog]

Ping!

Other articles with keyword "DOGGIEPING" since 12/29/04

[AnAmericanMother]

I won't swerve for squirrels either.

I've investigated too many accidents where somebody swerved to try to miss a squirrel or a raccoon or other animal in the roadway, and wound up losing control and crashing (sometimes they even got killed).

I had a terrible run of luck awhile back when my kids were small. It seemed like every week we ran over another squirrel. Then we had a week where I hit one EVERY DAY. My younger child was getting upset (my older child dubbed the minivan "The Deathmobile".)

We took the minivan to church and had the priest bless it with holy water.

It worked. No more dead squirrels. In fact, I haven't run over one since . . . even though we traded in the minivan. I guess the blessing transfers, like the Brown Scapular. < g >

[AnAmericanMother]

Oops.

At least you tried.

My Lab retrieves the birds that hit the glass and brings them to me. Sometimes we're able to revive them.

[DollyCali]

wonderful article Jet J! and thanks for the heads up on the finest Meg!

[HairOfTheDog]

I won't swerve for squirrels either.

Don't swerve for anything! But you can at least apply the brakes if you see one near!

[HairOfTheDog]

What a drama! But great pictures. I never know who to root for on nature shows, the gazelle or the lion.... they both need to survive. :~\

[agrace]

Great pic!

[AnAmericanMother]

Oh, I'll stand on it (especially with the ABS system, it's astounding how quickly you can stop without skidding, although it was hard for me to "unlearn" the pumping method), I just won't swerve. That can roll you.

[Titan Magroyne]

Awww, how sweet!

Thanks for the ping, HOTD!

[MoochPooch]

" . . . many people live so far from nature and farming, and don't realize the dangers of treating wild animals as domestic . . . ."


Maybe squirrels look cute because of their big eyes and bushy tails, but they are rodents, like rats, who can bring in many diseases. I don't think I'd want any around me, even a baby one.

[-YYZ-]

I'll try to avoid them, but not by swerving. Everytime I've swerved a bit to avoid running some critter over they inevitably change direction at just the wrong time and get run over, anyway. If I see them in time I'll usually slow down and beep my horn a couple of times, which usually sends them scurying back off the road. Of course they probably end up getting run over a little later, anyway.

[apackof2]

How adorable