Neighbour has relocated some squirrels. I am concerned.
 

I was just told by a neighbour that some red squirrels had gotten into his main attic and he has been relocating them. Apparently there were some younger ones as well, not fully grown so obviously a family. He took them to a small park that is probably no more than a mile and a half away. This neighbour's roof has been in need of repairs and reshingling for years and I am not at all surprised that the poor squirrels were able to find what they thought was a safe haven in there. I implied to the neighbour that he would have been better to try to do something about his roof.:frustrated:

I am feeling quite concerned about what will happen to these squirrels now that they have being relocated. I suspect that not all of them will survive. I have seen squirrels gathering food in preparation for winter for the last couple of months. Now they will need to to it all over again as well as find or make suitable shelters for the winter with only perhaps as little as one month to go before the snow flies.

I am thinking about taking some nuts and sunflower seeds out to the park to help them along, but this is a public park where people and their pets go and I don't know where I could place them so the squirrels can find them in safety and they will not be disturbed. I will have to take a look at the park. It is quite small and I can't even remember if there are very many trees there or how big they are. I am also wondering if these squirrels will try to find their way back. Even though it is not a huge distance away I doubt that they will be able to do that.

NoahGrey and others, I would really appreciate your thoughts on what you think might happen to these squirrels as a result of the relocation and what I might do to help them.

Indeed not all will survive. But in the big picture, if this guy was a real bugger, none of them would.

In this case you must balance alternatives. He made the humaine choice in my opinion.

I am certain my response is not going to be popular, but I have seen what people will do with wildlife and in this case the person took the time to relocate and not torture.

My :2cents:

Depending on how far the neighbour has taken them, they may find their way back.

[QUOTE=Love4himies;955698]Depending on how far the neighbour has taken them, they may find their way back.[/QUOTE]

Chances are they will.

[QUOTE=BenMax;955694]Indeed not all will survive. But in the big picture, if this guy was a real bugger, none of them would.

In this case you must balance alternatives. He made the humaine choice in my opinion.

I am certain my response is not going to be popular, but I have seen what people will do with wildlife and in this case the person took the time to relocate and not torture.

My :2cents:[/QUOTE]

I fully agree with you, BenMax. If he was that type of person (and I'm sure there are many like that), he could have done a whole lot worse to those squirrels. He does happen to love animals (has about 5 indoor cats that are well taken care of).

However, I still can't help being somewhat ticked off. We had a discussion about four years ago where he mentioned that he thought squirrels might be getting in his attic and at that time I suggested that perhaps some roof repairs were in order (it was already in a visible state of disrepair at that time). I realize that a new roofing job is very expensive nowadays and I can't pretend to know his financial circumstances but he is an able bodied man in his thirties and I'm sure he could have done some kind of repairs before it came to this.

[QUOTE=Love4himies;955698]Depending on how far the neighbour has taken them, they may find their way back.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=BenMax;955716]Chances are they will.[/QUOTE]

That is something I'm wondering about. I don't know if they are even still in the park where he dropped them off. It's difficult to know what, if anything, I can do to make things easier for them since I really don't know where they are right now. Trouble is, if they do come back, they can still get in his attic. When I mentioned roof repairs again, he said he would likely do some repairs in the spring. There is still time for him to get on it right now before winter.:yell:

It is against the law to relocate wild life more than 1 kilometre from their habitat......you say about 1 1/2 miles, it's doubtful they will return to their former neighbourhood :(

my then neighbor had the same problem,a mother squirrel and her babies in the roof.
when i saw them covering the openings with chicken-wire,so the mother could not get to her babies,i called humane society and noahgrey came to help out.
the renter even had a trap in the roof where 2 babies were caught.

well,my little heroin noahgrey,made him release the babies outside and let the others out to their mother.
luckily they were big enough to make it.

depending on how big these babies are,maybe they will make it,maybe not:(

[QUOTE=Chris21711;955776]It is against the law to relocate wild life more than 1 kilometre from their habitat......you say about 1 1/2 miles, it's doubtful they will return to their former neighbourhood :([/QUOTE]I was thinking along the same lines. I don't know what the Ontario laws say right now but I do know recent research suggests relocation amounts to a death sentence in more cases than not. I can't imagine Manitoba doesn't have a similar law. I guess it's up to you if you want to pursue that angle and at this point, what good would it do the squirrels?

Another law, or by-law, you might run afoul of is feeding wild animals in a public park. Don't get caught. ;) Somebody for sure will complain about it

Here's a bit regarding relocation taken from the OSPCA website.

Relocated animals are at an extreme disadvantage in a new environment. They have to find food, water and shelter in an unfamiliar territory. There may be territorial disputes between the relocated animal and resident animals that can lead to injury and even death. Relocated animals may also spread disease to the resident wildlife population, therefore causing other animals to become ill and/or die.

In Ontario, it is illegal to trap and relocate animals from the site where they were captured according to the Ministry of Natural Resources' Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act.

I would contact your local humane society and let them know what is up. And sadly most relocated wildlife do not survive.

As for going to the park and trying to feed them. odds are you won't find the ones that your neighbour had, and feeding wildlife leads to them becoming depended on humans for food. Which is not good.

all the squirrels or chipmunks Ive rehabbed (except one) are released at a site in Ottawa which is about 100km from where I am, I'm so close to a highway and have so many stray cats that I refuse to release them here so the ottawa/carlton rescue releases them for me.

Thanks to everybody for your information and suggestions. It was hard to find information as to the legalities of relocating wildlife here in Manitoba. I contacted a wildlife rehabilitation centre and was redirected to Manitoba Conservation. It apparently is against the law for citizens to relocate wildlife in Manitoba. Seems their biggest concern is the potential for the incoming wildlife to spread diseases to the existing population. The squirrels around here appear to be quite healthy so my greatest concern is whether or not they will survive the relocation.

Anyway, it is done and I can only hope that most of them will survive. I realize there is really nothing I can do. Apparently one of the smaller ones was dead in the trap (likely died from fright or the stress of trying to escape.:(
My neighbour has informed me that he has now patched up all the squirrel holes and plans on having a reroofing job done in the spring.

[QUOTE=Melinda;958383]all the squirrels or chipmunks Ive rehabbed (except one) are released at a site in Ottawa which is about 100km from where I am, I'm so close to a highway and have so many stray cats that I refuse to release them here so the ottawa/carlton rescue releases them for me.[/QUOTE]

I was told by one person I spoke to at Manitoba Conservation that squirrels are pretty adaptable and if a rescue is relocating rehabilitated squirrels and chipmunks that would indicate that this is the case. Hopefully most of these guys will survive, especially if the cold weather and snow doesn't settle in too soon.:fingerscr

I agree, at least your neighbor trapped and released the squirrels, he could have done a lot worse. Years ago our neighbor told us how mad he was to discover baby bunnies in a nest in his garden, so he put his boots on and destroyed them. I couldn't believe someone could and would do that just so he could get some lousy vegetables.

OMG,S-W,that would drive me crazy,there must be somebody that can do something:(
There are so many cruel people,who don't care at all about the little lives they destroy:(