This dear little girl Grey Squirrel didn't stand a chance. Though she appeared to have some sensitivity in her hind limbs, she just dragged them around and was very thin. An X-ray (see below) revealed that she had been shot (the pellet is the white spot next to her spinal cord). The bullet had severed part of her spinal cord and probably lodged in a kidney, as she had some blood in her urine. On careful examination we found a semi-healed bullet hole (see picture to right). She had probably been shot a week or so before and had been dragging herself around like this, in pain, for a week or so. We humanely euthanized her.
How could someone do this to a little innocent animal?
I feel like it's been a really tough week or so. So many people have been so supportive of my work at WTS, and it really keeps me going because sometimes I just feel emotionally spent. And it can be lonely work too; no matter how wonderful all the animals are, and how much I'm sometimes ashamed to admit it (because I feel like I should be stronger), emotional support from the human species has become more important to me than ever before, and I miss my friends who mostly live out-of-town. I think that I never really realised that until opening WTS. Some days are hard physically: building cages and enclosures and carrying around animals and food on little sleep. Other days are tough emotionally: animals dying in your hands after suffering pains we will hopefully never experience. Many of these animals leave mates and young behind, and that just adds to the sadness.
