(COLORADO) — Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) responded to a unique call on Wednesday, July 16, when a person working on a project car opened up the hood to find baby squirrels inside the engine compartment.
According to CPW, the person called CPW after finding a few squirrel babies, only days old, in the engine compartment–a decision CPW highly encourages if you find wildlife in a place they’re really not supposed to be.
“A really big reminder for people is, let our licensed wildlife rehabilitators do this,” said Travis Sauder, Assistant Area Wildlife Manager with CPW. “It’s really tempting to bring them home, they’re cute and they look harmless, but these licensed wildlife rehabilitators, not only from a legal standpoint, but they’ve got all the specialized equipment, they know how to handle these animals, and then the big thing is to get them ready to go back out on the landscape.”
Normally, CPW said they encourage people to leave baby animals alone and give the mother time to return, but since these squirrels were not exactly in a safe nest, calling CPW was the right call.
“In this case, because it was an engine compartment, [it’s] just not a safe place for those animals, they brought them to us, and… got them to a licensed wildlife rehabilitator,” said Sauder.
The baby squirrels will be cared for by the rehabilitator until they are grown and strong enough to be reintroduced to the wild, CPW said.
If you find wildlife in a surprising location, CPW asks that you call them at (719) 227-5200 before taking action yourself.
