FIRST AID FOR SQUIRRELS

Louis the Biker Saves a Baby Squirrel’s Life but Gets Rewarded With Damage

No good deed goes unpunished!

Over the last 23 years running my business — Safe + Sound First Aid Training, I’ve heard many stories about why people want to get trained in first aid. Here is one of the sweetest.

One afternoon, I picked up my office phone and chatted with a lovely man called Louis. He told me he was a biker and owned a leather store. He wanted to register for a class with us and learn first aid skills. I asked if he needed the training and certificate for work, and he said no. He just wanted to know what to do in case someone was hurt.

Then he said, “You know — I saved someone the other day.” I said, “Wow, that’s fantastic! Who was it?” A little shyly, “Well — it was a baby squirrel.”

For the next ten minutes, I sat at my desk smiling while he told me, in his lovely Italian accent, what had happened.

While working in his shop one morning, Louis heard a loud squealing noise. He couldn’t figure out what it was or where it was coming from, so he continued working. Later, searching for a bag of screws in his storage area, he moved a pile of wood and jumped back, thinking he’d seen a rat.

The rat turned out to be a baby squirrel. Louis thought the animal was suffering, so he called the SPCA. Then he remembered the store owner next door had worked with SPCA, so he called her. They decided to put the squirrel in a bike helmet box.

It was a hot day, and Louis was worried the squirrel might be thirsty, so he gave it some water while the woman went to get some food. By the time she returned with a small cookie, nuts and sunflower seeds, the squirrel had regained some energy. Louis told her to drop the food in the box, and the woman said, “She’s eating!”

Louis was happy and continued with his work. The SPCA instructed him to keep the box open and leave the squirrel alone for an hour, so he did. About 40 minutes later, he heard the squealing again. He ran to the back room and saw the squirrel standing on the box. It had little energy and fell off the side onto the floor, still making the noise.

In the corner of his eye, he saw the mother squirrel running along the telephone wire. She zipped down the post and into the store. When she found the little one, she was very excited, checking every part of her baby — legs, arms, body and head. Then she scooped it up and ran outside. She laid the baby on the ground, checked it out again and up the pole and away they went.

A minute later, the mother ran back down the pole, into the store and to the box. She drank some water, put the leftover nuts and seeds in her mouth, looked up at Louis and was gone.

At the end of his story, Louis said,

“Today, I see them running together. It was great, and I’m very ‘appy, except now I can ‘ear them destroying my ceiling! Lol” 😁

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