Tiny red squirrel found clinging to dead mother after she was hit by car nursed back to health

A tiny red squirrel found clinging to her dead mother who had been hit by a car in Drumoak, Aberdeenshire, earlier this month is recovering in the care of the Scottish SPCA. The animal welfare charity was alerted on February 4 when the two-week-old kit was discovered at the side of a road.
The squirrel is now being looked after at the charity’s National Wildlife Rescue Centre in Clackmannanshire, where staff have named her Ewok. Centre manager Colin Seddon said: “Ewok is our first red squirrel orphan of the year and was found under very sad circumstances after her mum was hit by a car. It’s incredible that she survived given she would have been attached to her mother at the time.
“Ewok is quite delicate but seems to be responding well to treatment. Sheelagh McAllister from our centre has been providing her with round the clock care, which includes taking her home in the evenings to syringe feed her through the night. Once Ewok is on solid food we’ll move her to one of our outdoor enclosures where she’ll have lots of space to run, jump and develop her fitness before her release back into the wild.”
Despite the decline of red squirrels in the UK, Grampian remains a stronghold for the rust-coloured creatures. Although much of the local habitat remains free of grey squirrels, they have begun to spread out of Aberdeen City and across Aberdeenshire, particularly down the river corridors of the Dee and Don. Specialist charity Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels (SSRS) is working with local landowners on grey squirrel control to reverse the decline of reds.