Baby red squirrel rescued by gun-dog

An injured red squirrel that was rescued after being sniffed out by a trained gun dog that 'pointed' to it is being cared for by the Scottish SPCA. The seven-week-old animal was rescued by Scotland's animal welfare charity after a dog walker found him grounded on a forest floor near Auchtermuchty on Sunday October 10.

The springer spaniel located the squirrel and 'pointed' to it. which was struggling to move and his owner picked up the little creature and carried him home in his hat. After caring for him overnight he contacted the Scottish SPCA for help and local Inspector Nicola Liddell collected the young squirrel and transported him to the charity's Wildlife Rescue Center in Fife where staff have named him Hamish.

Center Manager Colin Seddon said: "It's likely that Hamish lost his balance while out exploring the trees and landed on the ground. He did have a sore leg when he first came in to us, probably due to the fall, but he seems to be doing much better now.

"Hamish has started to feed himself so we will keep handling to a minimum from now on. This means that when he's fully fit we can return him to his natural habitat as a truly wild animal with the best chance of survival."