Red squirrel – Slepík and Palačinka

Description

We took in Slepík in the summer of that year as a five-week-old youngster. At first we thought his closed eyes were caused by an infection or an injury, but in time it turned out that his eyes had not developed at all. This congenital defect was most likely caused by a toxic substance affecting his mother while she was pregnant. Slepík is not aware of his handicap, though: he has learned to find his way by smell, which squirrels have very well developed, and by touch. From a distance you cannot even tell that he is handicapped. He jumps along the branches just as surely as squirrels without a handicap. He only finds his way this well in a familiar environment marked with his scent trails, though; in the wild he sadly would not survive.

The other handicapped squirrel, who was given the name Palačinka, came to us in the autumn. She was an already weaned, viable youngster, but unfortunately she was hit by a car. The head injury took its merciless toll — for several days the youngster just went round in circles. Medication given in time prevented the worst, but the young squirrel was left with a handicap all the same: she stopped being afraid of people. That is a sign of a psychological handicap; as a result of the severe head injury the squirrel stopped being “normal”. She would not be able to cope on her own in the wild, so she has to stay with us.

At present both squirrels have many adoptive parents and are not looking for more for the time being.

The squirrels already have these adoptive parents:

Slepík is not looking for more adoptive parents at the moment.

Palačinka the squirrel already has these adoptive parents: