Motherly dog rescues orphaned red squirrel
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The red squirrel orphan is fed by syringe at the SSPCA's National Wildlife Rescue Centre.
A tiny baby red squirrel has been given a good chance of survival thanks to Inverness animal welfare staff and a motherly dog called Holly.
The week-old orphan was found when Callum Davidson took Holly, an eight-year-old English pointer, for a walk in the woods near Torbreck Farm, Inverness.
"I noticed a traffic sign saying there were red squirrels in the area and for some reason I stopped," said Mr Davidson (35) of Holm Dell Drive. "When I looked down I saw this tiny baby red squirrel clinging to a branch on the ground. At the same time, Holly picked it up in her mouth and brought it to me. She’s a very maternal dog, very soft and gentle. It’s just as well she picked it up, or I might have stood on it."
After a night at the SSPCA’s rescue and rehoming centre in Inverness, the orphan was taken to their National Wildlife Rescue Centre in Fishcross in Clackmannanshire, where staff named him Squirrelly.
Centre manager Colin Seddon said: "Squirelly really struggled when he first came in but he is now feeding well. It’s likely he has fallen out of a tree as he is too young to be by himself. He’s being syringe-fed every two to three hours and he’ll then be moved on to solid food. He will stay with us until he’s about 10 weeks old then he’ll be released back into the wild."
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