Hide and Seek with a Squirrel

It was a sunny day in February in 2013. I was taking an afternoon nap with my balcony door open. When I woke up it was around 6ish so i shut the balcony door and went to check my phone. As I walked towards my table I was surprised by a rustling sound coming from under the bed. I took a look and found a baby squirrel quivering in the corner. This animal wasn't the large, bushy-tailed, grey squirrel you find in America. It was an Indian Palm Squirrel, which looks more like a chipmunk. I thought it was a helpless and harmless creature so I reached forward to pick it up. Apparently it had other ideas, because it darted away from my hand and made for my closet. Picking up that this was no helpless infant, I grabbed a butterfly net to pursue it. After an animated half-an-hour chase I had finally caught the little guy. I took some time to inspect the squirrel and deduced that it was a 1-2 month old male. I knew that squirrels are strictly diurnal (active during the day) animals so releasing it was not an option as it was already dark. I decided to wait till the next morning to release it. I put some dried grass and some moist cotton in a cardboard box, and then poked some air holes in the box. I then tried transferring the squirrel into the box but it nipped at my finger, trying to bite me. I put on some thick snow gloves and put the squirrel into the box. I kept the box in my room overnight.

The next morning I decided to check on the squirrel so I opened the box and peeked inside. Suddenly the squirrel jumped through the gap, ran up my arm and leaped behind the bookshelf. I looked for him but evidently he had disappeared. Luckily my room door was closed so I knew he couldn't have gotten out. I called my parents in and we proceeded to turn my room inside out looking for the squirrel. We emptied the bookshelves, moved aside all the furniture and checked in every possible place, but we just couldn't find him. Finally we decided to wait it out. I went into my room periodically hoping to see some movement or hear some noise. In the mean time, we could all hear the high pitched squeaks of an adult squirrel outside our house. That cleared my doubts about whether our squirrel was an orphan. Around 1:00 in the afternoon, I went into my room again to find the baby squirrel climbing on the balcony window. I quickly opened the window and the squirrel jumped to freedom. In about 10 minutes the high pitched squeaks stopped, possibly indicating that the baby had found its mother.

My suspicions were confirmed the next day when I saw the mother and baby running together on the roof of my house. This whole episode just goes to show that animals don't need humans as much as we think they do. Apart from keeping the squirrel safe for one night, I did virtually nothing. The baby relied purely on its instincts to find its mother and everything worked out perfectly. I still see that squirrel around my house sometimes, climbing a tree or scaling a wall. I can tell it's him because he has a slightly crooked tail. Now he's almost an adult and soon he may have babies of his own. 

Nature knows what it's doing but sometimes it needs a little help from us. It's our job to do just what is needed; no more, no less.

Baby Birds That Fall Out of Nests

We often find baby birds on the ground in springtime. This means that they have fallen out of a nest nearby. Since the bird's parents are unable to put their baby back into the nest, it is up to us to locate the nest and place the bird back. HOWEVER, this should only be done if the bird is very young and unable to move around by hopping or flying.

For example, if the bird is pink and featherless, or its eyes are still closed, PLACE IT BACK IN THE NEST. At this stage it depends entirely on its parents for food and protection.

                                     

If the bird is feathered and it can move around on its own, LEAVE IT. This means it is a fledgling. At this stage it hops around, attempting to fly, while its parents keep an eye on it from nearby, feeding and protecting it.

                                     

It is a MYTH that parent birds abandon their chicks if they smell human scent on them. The fact is that birds don't have a very good sense of smell and they cannot detect that a human has touched their baby. However, the birds may get spooked if they see a human touching their nest or babies. This may result in them abandoning the nest but scent has nothing to do with it. Just remember, if you're going to touch a nest or a chick make sure the parent birds aren't in the vicinity.

   

Sometimes, it isn't possible it return a "dependent" bird to its nest either because the nest was destroyed or because the parents were killed. When this happens, humans need to intervene. You can take the bird to a wildlife rehabilitator or rescue organization. You can choose to care for it yourself if nothing else is possible, but make sure you find out as much as you can about caring for the animal.

My First Snake Capture

India has a plethora of snake species and these snakes come in contact with humans very often. The general reaction when people see a snake is fear. Some people immediately try to kill the snake while others respect it enough to give it some space. Being an animal lover, I am appalled by this first category of people. 

At the beginning of monsoon season in Bangalore, human-snake interactions are very frequent. One Spring 6 snakes were killed in 2 weeks, IN MY OWN COMMUNITY!

This was a wake up call for me. I immediately started finding out as much as I could about snakes and actively campaigning for their well-being. I learned how to identify the different species and studied basic capturing techniques. There are professional "snake catchers" that you can call to remove snakes from an area but most are shady. These guys are money minded so instead of releasing the snakes they catch, they sell them to snake charmers or sell their skins.

One day I was with my dog, Paws, in my backyard when Paws randomly started barking at one corner of the wall. There was a greenish-black snake moving on the ground! 

I had seen snakes near my house before but that was before I knew so much about them. My fear was replaced by excitement. I put a large bucket over it to prevent it from going into my neighbor's yard. I wanted to confirm that it wasn't a venomous species before I handled it and I confirmed that it was either a Rat Snake or a Keelback  -both harmless. I made a snake hook out of a coat hanger and a bamboo stick and went out to get the snake.

 

I caught the snake, with its tail in my left hand and its neck in the snake hook, and put it into a large empty garbage can. I inspected it further and found that it was a 3 foot long male. I didn't want to release it where I found it because it would find its way onto someone else's property and they would have it killed. I waited till my Dad came home and asked him what to do. He told me to release it outside the community, close to lake less than a kilometer from my house. We took the garbage can with the snake out of the gate and walked to the lake. I released it with the hook and watched it disappear into the undergrowth.

This incident inspired me to seriously think about snake conservation. Later, I had the honor of meeting Mr. Romulus Whitaker, the leading authority on Indian snakes. He told me that the relocation model wasn't the best one as snakes often traveled long distances to get back to their old territories. He said that the best thing to do is let the snake be where it is, if it isn't an immediate threat. The logic was that since snakes are afraid of humans, if it is unlucky enough to be seen once, it is unlikely to do it again. Mr. Whitaker told me that it was probable that the snake I had released came back to my house. 

I had 2 more encounters with wild snakes after this. I saw a 6 foot Rat Snake in my front yard and I decided to let it go. 2 months after that a cobra was cornered in my neighbor's house and they called a snake catcher to take it away. My neighbors were not ready to let it be and I wasn't allowed to handle it as it was venomous. I couldn't do anything but watch as the snake catcher caught it and took it away in a sack.