An endangered red squirrel orphan – who was found close to death aged just four days – has been nursed back to health by a north-east animal sanctuary.
Rescuers at the New Arc admitted it was “touch and go” when the kit, which they have named Gary, was brought to their Auchnagatt base at the end of August covered in bites.
He was discovered on the ground by a dog walker near Buckie, who rushed the young animal to the nearest pet shop – where they contacted the sanctuary.
Last night co-founder of the New Arc, Keith Marley, said he believed the young animal’s nest had been singled out and destroyed by a pine marten.
He added: “It was a dog walker who found him covered in bite marks. He wasn’t even sure if he was a squirrel or a rat. He took him to the pet shop.
“He gave us a phone and very nicely drove down to us. At first, we were really concerned because squirrels nest quite high and he had obviously dropped from the nest, so he could have suffered internal injuries.
“He had quite a number of bite marks on him, we suspect from a pine marten. Cats and various other things wouldn’t go up to get him.”
On arrival at the New Arc, he was placed in one of the centre’s new, specially-designed rescue incubators on a strict diet, and gradually administered medicine.
Mr Marley added: “We did not expect him to pull through. It has been three weeks and he opened his eyes for the first time last night.
“His ears opened up a couple of days ago. Their ears open up at three weeks old.
“At around 42 days, his teeth will come through and he’ll be ‘bitey’. That is when the fun begins. Now his eyes are open, he’ll start to move about.
“He’ll move from an incubator into a bigger cage. Once he has been weaned, he’ll get a diet of mixed berries, pecan nuts and curly kale and any suitable fungi we can find for him.
“It was touch and go for a few days. He is a tough little blighter. We have had quite a few red squirrels in over the years. He is the only one we have had this year.”
Gary will be released back into a local woodland area with a healthy red squirrel population “once he is fit enough and shown to be a healthy, self-sufficient squirrel”.
The young squirrel arrived towards the end of the New Arc’s busy “orphan season”, when the centre is often overrun with young animals.
Yesterday, a group of four baby hedgehogs were also brought into the charity’s care.
The red squirrel is one of Scotland’s most iconic species, but it remains under threat.
There are roughly 120,000 red squirrels left in Scotland – half the number of grey squirrels.
The animals are Scotland’s only native squirrel species and numbers have declined rapidly since the introduction of grey squirrels from North America in the 19th century.
Hedgehogs are also in decline, with estimates there could be as few as 700,000 left in the wild.
Mr Marley added: “Squirrels are still in decline. Everyone of them is important as is every hedgehog. Anybody finding a hedgehog (in trouble) should please give us a shout.
“It was a long, slow summer. Some animals have waited to breed. We have even got baby swallows just coming in.”