Sad

Today when we were coming home from the bus we found a baby squirrel crawling across the driveway...with a broken back. It was paralysed in it's hind legs and tail but could still pull itself along with it's front legs. Of course the kids had to stop and look at it, and then I couldn't just leave it in the middle of the road. So we picked it up with Remi's jacket and brought it inside and put it in a shoe box with some cloths to keep it warm.

For a while it was really quiet and I just thought it would die (but at least it could go in comfort rather than being caught by a cat of something). I tried to feed it some water in a baby bottle, but it just appeared in shock. I wish I could say it died peacefully, but actually it seemed perfectly healthy apart from its back.

Later it started freaking out and growling and trying to eat it's way out of the box. At one stage it got out and was crawling all over me. We had to be careful not to get bitten (not that it was overly vicious). So after it made it clear that it wasn't happy in the box, I made the decision that I had to put it outside and let nature take it's course.

I tried to put it in a tree where there was a flat branch low to the ground, but it tried to climb straight away and fell out and was crawling along the ground. I didn't want to leave it out in the open...where something would take it or the kids would find it dead. Of course they were all very upset and crying. So I made a decision to find a nook for it in our wood pile. Somewhere wher it could find a little nest and not fall from.

I had to tell the kids that it would at least be safe there and have a little nest. They were looking for acorns for it, but I know it will die in there, if not straight away, then at least from starvation. It was so horrible. Ella did a painting of it all...the little squirrel with its legs sticking out behind.

I hate situations like that. It was all very sad.