MILWAUKEE, Wis. – Their bushy tails entangled in a knot, five juvenile Gray Squirrel siblings were saved by the Wisconsin Humane Society’s Wildlife Rehabilitation Center this week.
WHS officials say the squirrels were stuck in a “Gordian Knot” — their tails entangled with long-stemmed grasses and strips of plastic their mother used as nest material.
Thankfully, someone found the animals and brought them to the rehabilitation center for help.
According to WHS, when a good Samaritan brought the “ball” of squirrels in, they were wiggly, unruly and distressed. All five were anesthetized at the same time so caretakers could carefully snip away the grass and plastic bit by bit.
WHS officials say it was impossible to tell whose tail was whose during the process. Overall, it took about 20 minutes.
All the squirrels had suffered varying degrees of tissue damage to their tails caused by circulatory impairment.
One day later, the family of five are “all bright-eyed” and three of the five are “bushy-tailed!”
The squirrels will need to be monitored by WHS for a few days to make sure their tails heal properly.