Blog: A Walk on the Wild Side

So you want to raise a pet squirrel? It is not much different than owning a cat or a dog; except for the fact that a squirrel is a wild animal being taken from its natural environment to live its life in a cage. But owning unique and interesting pets is all the rage these days. 
Exotic pet stores have anything from baby crocodiles to sugar gliders. Weekend-long reptile events offer the public an endless array of exotic animals for a bargain basement price.  In South Carolina you can legally own many exotic species and there is no rule keeping you from picking up most native wild species and taking them right into your home to love and hug and call them George.

But back to the pet squirrel.  Should a potential pet squirrel fall into your life the first set of advice we would offer is to find a reputable wildlife rescue and listen to what they say.  If they say put the baby back, then put it back.  If it meets the rescues criteria to come in for care, then it is your responsibility to get the animal to the rescue.  If the animal is sick or injured do not even try to keep it.  Get it to a rescue ASAP.

Speaking of rescues: Because rescues are not governed by any agency in South Carolina it could be difficult to determine what makes a rescue reputable. Social media can be deceptive. Check out the rescue’s content. If it is mostly shares from other rescues be leery. You want to see THAT rescues content vs what it shares from a rescue four states away. It is not uncommon for rescues to share great information another rescue posted, but a lot of rescues share other’s content to boost their number of posts and if you don’t know any better you might not realize the rescue you are following on social media is not actually as hands on as they appear. 
Great resources to find a wildlife rescue are
•Local vets. Most do not treat wildlife, but will have a relationship with rescues in the community.
•Animal control. Most do not work with wildlife, but do network with local rescues to handle calls about native wildlife.
•Animal shelters. Again, they usually do not (and should not) intake any native wildlife but do have a list of wildlife rescues.
•The Department of Natural Resources/Local Game Wardens can also be a great resource to find wildlife rescue, but keep in mind that DNR is not trained to provide care for the animals you may find.

Back to that squirrel that fell into your life. 
In South Carolina as of 2025 it is lawful to keep a squirrel as a pet. 
If you find an orphaned, injured, or displaced squirrel and decide this is the pet for you, then you will need to figure out what to do.  And you will have a very short amount of time to get your ducks – we mean squirrels – in a row. 
You will need to know what to feed the squirrel?
How to feed the squirrel?
When to feed the squirrel? 
What kind of bottles do you need? 
How long should you wait to feed a baby squirrel after you find it?  
We will go ahead and answer that last question.  You need to wait until you have the correct supplies and know what you are doing before you EVER offer any formula or food of any kind…not even water.
But if our history with people who call us about wildlife is to be believed…you’ll probably jump right into action and feed the animal immediately because you believe it is starving.  Which will set into motion a chain of events that cannot be corrected later.
You might try Google or the library.  Veterinarians, pet or farm store employees, and your local animal shelter or animal control will NOT have the correct information you need.  But those stores…they will see you coming from a mile away and sell you every product you need to kill your new wild pet.
It is the truth and the truth hurts. 

If the wildlife you found needs help the best thing you can do is take it to a wildlife rescue the moment you KNOW it cannot be reunited with its mother.  Not tomorrow.  Or in a few days because you want to let your kids see it.  Not because you want to give it a few days to see if you have what it takes.

If you are still kinda stubborn and know in your heart that you can successfully raise and keep a pet squirrel, then and only then should you consider purchasing a copy of our handy dandy booklet Raising Squirrels: A Beginners Guide to Keeping Pet Squirrels. We will email you an electronic copy.  Also available for purchase is our Beginner’s Kit for raising squirrels, Thirty days of technical assistance, and/or one-on-one tutorials.
We absolutely DO NOT recommend anyone keeping wildlife as pets, but if you insist, we will happily provide the following resources, for a small fee, of course. Email pthwildlife@gmail.com for ordering instructions.

•Raising Squirrels: A Beginners Guide to Raising Pet Squirrels, $25
download only.
•Beginners Kit for Raising Squirrels: Includes oral rehydrating solution, one week of formula, 25 1ml syringes, two nipples, nursery box with bedding for $150 + S&H OR local pick up available in Kershaw County.
•One-on-One Tutorials from a trained rehabber, $75/hour

DID YOU KNOW wildlife rescues and rehabilitators are not regulated in South Carolina? This means anyone, regardless of experience or training, can become a wildlife rescuer.
Scary, right?
When you find an orphaned, injured, or displaced wild animal you want to make sure it is handed over to a person or an organization with experience.
REAL experience.
Gone are the days of new rehabbers being trained, completing apprenticeships, or participating in continuing education. Instead, what was once a respected profession has become a learn-as-you-go hobby. This is incredibly dangerous to the rehabbers, the animals, and the people who find the animals.
New rescues or people who have good intentions, but only a little experience raising a wild animal or two, pop up every day as new rescues. They claim to have the background needed to be a rescue, but the sad truth is most do not.  They bring all the bells and whistles, like nonprofit status (which can be achieved online in just minutes).
None of this legitimizes a rescue. And because our state has no regulations in place folks who find animals that need help have no way of knowing what is best for an animal.
Wildlife rescues (and privately owned domesticated animal rescues) are self-funded. Rescues who receive nonprofit status can fundraise or request donations.
Many people start up wildlife rescues not realizing a rescue, even with nonprofit status, is a small business. No privately owned rescue should expect the state or any other government agency to fund their nonregulated, private, small business that they willingly chose to open.
P.S. Nonprofit status does not mean rescues get anything for free. We still pay for vet care, formula, feed, supplies, etc. Nonprofit status is for the benefit of the DONOR to use their contribution for a tax deduction.
Wildlife rescue is not a competitive sport. Yet in the last decade many of the newer rescues are in the superlative mindset of who can rescue the most animals and even take to trolling social media to find posts to comment on, encouraging the public to bypass their most local resources and “pick them” hoping the more animals they take in the more donations they will receive. 
The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources has tried for several years to implement policy and regulation to help with some of these issues. Many rescues fight the changes each year because they do not want to be held accountable.  Yet these same rescues believe state agencies ‘owe them’ for volunteering to rehabilitate wildlife.
The South Carolina House of Representatives recently introduced a Bill (H4100) aimed at establishing some ground rules for wildlife rescues. We support this bill.
The purpose of this bill is not to punish folks who rescue and rehabilitate native wildlife. It is to ensure the people and the wildlife of this state that animals brought into care are received by knowledgeable, experienced rehabilitators.  It will establish common sense standards for rescues to follow. The new law addresses public safety criteria as well as steps taken to make sure wildlife surrendered to a rescue is released back into its natural habitat when rehabilitation is complete and not hoarded in cages and deemed nonreleasable because the persons or rescues caring for them failed by imprinting or human habituating them.

It is true, there are not enough wildlife rescues in South Carolina, but that doesn’t mean we should let just anyone claim to be a rescue.

It is also true that no law is going to please everyone. It is impossible to cover every concern when establishing new regulations. But we absolutely have to start somewhere.

H4100 is a no nonsense, to the point Bill. But don’t take our word for it. You can read it here in black and white.

If you agree with and support this Bill please take a moment and contact your Representatives and Senators and let them know you want them to help keep wildlife Wild in SC.


ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
H4100 WILDLIFE SUBCOMMITTEE MEETING (forward to 1hour : 17minutes)
PRESENTATION BY SCDNR to the Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Environmental Affairs Committee
(forward to 1hour : 39minutes)
PRESENTATION BY SCDNR and Many SC Wildlife Rescues to the Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Environmental Affairs Committee
(begins at 6minutes : 25seconds, our rescue speaks at 34minutes : 42seconds)

Squirrels are beneficial to the ecosystem. They play an important role as seed and spore dispersers. This means Gray Squirrels are champions of reforestation. We all know squirrels collect and store seeds and nuts in the soil, but did you know that squirrels do not always come back for the food they have stored? When these seeds or nuts are forgotten they sprout into new plants and trees. Squirrels also spread seeds and spores when they poop. Nature, right?

Squirrels are members of the Sciuridae family, which consists of small and medium-sized rodents. Tree squirrels can thrive anywhere there is a food source. Squirrels are omnivores, which means they eat plants and animals. They even eat eggs and baby birds! When squirrels leave their trees, it is usually in search of nuts, acorns, berries, and flowers OR to bury their food for later.

Feeding wildlife is NEVER a good idea. We know a lot of people feed wildlife because they love seeing the animals in their yards. Feeding wildlife increases the chance that the squirrel will lose its natural fear of humans and become aggressive when food is not available. Feeding squirrels (or any wildlife) can also put the animals in danger. All humans look alike to an animal. What you may allow in your backyard may not be welcome in your neighbors. We get calls all the time from people who want us to remove squirrels who get in their bird feeders or come on their porches looking for free food.

Squirrels live in family groups. This is why it is important to never raise just one squirrel. Squirrels need to know how to “squirrel” and there is no better way than to let them stay with mom OR if they have to be rescued make sure they go to a rescue that raises squirrels in groups. Family groups can be territorial in the wild and will not usually accept a single squirrel. Instead, they will defend their territory, often resulting in the death of the invading squirrel.

Squirrels rarely need to be rescued. Moms will do everything in their power to get their babies when they fall from their nests. Unfortunately, people do not usually give mom time. Mom will retrieve her babies when she feels safe and since squirrels have more than one nest, you do not have to worry that the babies are abandoned if their tree falls or is cut down. If you find a healthy, uninjured baby you can leave it at the base of the nearest tree or put the babies in a box with leaves and let mom do her job. If the baby is still unclaimed after several hours, you can call a rescue to get advice on what to do next.

Of course, wildlife can sometimes cause problems when they invade your living or working areas. There are usually simple solutions to evict or prevent animals from taking up residence and causing problems.

No matter how you feel about wildlife, each species plays an important role in Nature so let’s do our best to keep wildlife WILD!

The most triumphant phase of wildlife rehabilitation is when rehabilitation is complete. It does not matter if the animal is with us a few days or several months, releasing an animal back into its natural habitat is WHY we do what we do.  If we do not have release sites, we cannot rehabilitate animals that have nowhere to go when they are ready. It is a struggle some years and, in the past, has prevented us from rehabilitating certain species. Wildlife rescue is not just about our ability to properly care for and make ready each species to return to the wild. It is also about ensuring a safe, secure area for those animals to live the rest of their lives.

A lot of homework goes into choosing a place to release an animal. We must determine if that species naturally thrives in the area. What natural resources are available? Are there homes or businesses nearby? And most important, what is the carrying capacity of the land for that area. 

The carrying capacity of the land is the maximum number of individuals of a given species that an area’s resources can sustain indefinitely without significantly depleting or degrading those resources. It is important for us to not reuse any given area multiple times for our release sites because if we do, we risk exceeding the carrying capacity.  

If you exceed the carrying capacity of an area the result is the species directly affected will either starve to death or must move to a new area. Moving to a new area is not usually a successful option as most species are territorial and will not allow newcomers to be incorporated into the existing populations. 

We are often consulted about wildlife populations in neighborhoods or on private land. One question we are often asked is, “Where did all the wildlife go?”.  Folks will notice there are no birds or squirrels or cottontails and wonder why. In one area a neighborhood homeowners association contacted us after their squirrel population disappeared from one season to the next. Their concern was that someone could be harming the squirrels. After a thorough study of the area, we were able to determine that basically the carrying capacity of the area had been used up. There were no more resources to sustain a squirrel population. Residents had been feeding squirrels for at least five years. The abundance of food increased breeding. The increase of breeding put a greater demand on the natural resources and eventually the squirrel population exceeded the carrying capacity of the land.  The result? The area could no longer sustain squirrels and they either moved on or died.

As a rescue we can only release on privately owned land with the landowner’s permission. It is unlawful to release wildlife (or pets) in parks, preserves or wildlife management areas. A minimum of 50 acres is required for every 10 animals we release. We never release animals near homes, in neighborhoods, or near businesses. Once used, we give each of our release areas a few seasons to recuperate before we release there again.  We must take into consideration that not only will the animals we release need the natural resources there to survive, but so will any offspring they reproduce. If we released in the same area multiple times a year for several years it would be a death sentence for the released animals and the wildlife already inhabiting that area once the natural resources are depleted. We also have to take into consideration what is beyond the area where we are granted permission to release. Eventually our release populations could spill over beyond the acreage we have permission to use.  We never want to cause landowners beyond our release area issues with wildlife.

It is important that we only release healthy wildlife to protect all native wildlife that lives where we release.

On a global scale, exceeding the carrying capacity along with habitat destruction can be directly linked to extinction of some species. Our communities, no matter how small, are all part of the bigger picture so we are very careful about where our rehabilitated wildlife is released. 

Each year we scout for possible release sites. If you have undeveloped land in SC and are interested in being a release site for us let us know. You can email pthwildlife@gmail.com