Poor Little Bald Squirrel

I found another poor little bald squirrel yesterday. This would now be the second one in the same area of the forest. I found the first one in December. You can read about that first one here: Baldilocks

I couldn't quite tell what I was seeing when I took the photos, because the camera sees a lot better than I do. I knew there was something wrong with this squirrel though. I couldn't see it well, but what I saw looked messed up. I found out what I was seeing when I got home and saw the pictures.

This squirrel is missing an awful lot of hair. When I first saw the pictures I thought maybe it was the same squirrel I had seen before, because they were in the same area of the forest. But the pattern of the baldness seems different. I don't think it's the same one.

Obviously it isn't an injury, like I thought when I saw the first one. I would guess these two squirrels have had contact with each other for this to happen. The only thing I know that might be able to do this to these poor squirrels is mange. This means this squirrel probably doesn't have much time left.

The first picture really makes him look messed up, but he was actually moving around pretty well. He scurried up that tree just as well as any other squirrel. I can't say how he really feels. It may be that it's not as bad as it seems. Hopefully he'll get better with the warm weather that we have now.

I don't mean to write such a sad post for you, but this is just as much a part of nature as any other. Sometimes bad things happen. This squirrel didn't seem as angry at me as the original one did, but it didn't like my presence. I think I was too far away for it to get to angry. I can understand the poor thing being angry.

You know, I started out writing joking posts about fake wars I was having with the squirrels. Those were really fun at the time. I then wrote of a truce between the squirrels and me. After that I have come to enjoy seeing squirrels whenever I'm in the forest. I even think of them as my little friends, so whenever I see something like this it makes me sad.

But there's nothing I can do about it. It's all a part of nature, and it's not up to me to interfere. If it becomes an epidemic, the government might step in. But until then it's up to the squirrels to deal with it. It doesn't seem fair for any living thing to have to suffer.

I'll have something much happier tomorrow.