Finnegan the squirrel
For about as long as she can remember, Debby Cantlon says, friends and
strangers have brought her animals in need. So it wasn't much of a
surprise when someone asked her if she'd care for a newborn squirrel found at the base of a tree somewhere near Renton.
Debby Cantlon, who plans to release Finnegan, the young squirrel, back
into the wild, bottle-fed the infant squirrel after it was brought to her
house. Cantlon, who has cancer, says rescuing injured animals is!
therapeutic for her.
When Cantlon took in the tiny creature and began caring for him, she
found herself with an unlikely nurse's aide: her pregnant Papillon,
Mademoiselle Giselle. Finnegan was resting in a nest in a cage just days before Giselle was due to deliver her puppies. Cantlon and her husband watched as the dog dragged the squirrel's cage - twice - to her own bedside before she gave birth.
Cantlon was concerned, yet ultimately decided to allow the squirrel out
- and the inter-species bonding began.
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