Original upload date: Fri, 11 Sep 2020 00:00:00 GMT
Archive date: Mon, 06 Dec 2021 22:34:09 GMT
On 9/10/2020, near Multnomah Village (Portland, OR), we rescued 5 juvenile squirrels that had their tails tangled together in a deadly knot that was full of sticky sap. We tried contacting the injured
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wildlife hotline but couldn’t get through, probably because of all the wildfires.
After a good 25min of struggle using fire gloves for protection (of all things) and rubbing alcohol (trying to keep it away from their heads), we got their tails untangled. The alcohol is great to dissolve sap, better than GooGone (a good tip if your car is covered with it). The little squirrels limped away to rest in the bushes right by our driveway. The whole time, their parent was in the tree above, keeping an eye on them. Once freed, she (I assume) came down to check on them and we let them be. After an hour or so, they had all disappeared to hopefully make it through another day.From the little research I’ve done, this condition is called “Squirrel King” and is quite rare (the wiki page seems to list the few instances recorded). The condition is deadly for the squirrels as they end up not being able to find food, move independently, they break bones, become easy prey and so forth.
The video is tinted orange because of the current wildfires in Oregon (as of 9/11/2020).
More about squirrel kings: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squirrel_king
