Blue Ridge Wildlife Center Patient of the Week: Southern Flying Squirrel

Imagine you are cold and hungry and you come upon a buffet of your favorite snacks! How could this young Southern flying squirrel resist? Sadly, the free meal that lured the squirrel in, turned out to be a deadly trap. By the time he was discovered, he had clearly been stuck for an extended period of time and was severely dehydrated and barely responsive.

Once admitted to our hospital and freed from the trap, this patient was started on fluids to rehydrate and housed in an incubator as he was unable to thermoregulate (process that allows your body to maintain its internal temperature) on his own.

Glue traps never provide a humane death for their victims, whether intended targets (like insects and mice) or accidental entrapments like this patient. Please do not use glue traps—there are better ways to prevent (or even humanely trap or kill) the intended targets. If you use traps of ANY type, please be sure to check those traps regularly, at least every 24 hours.

What should you do if you find an animal stuck to a glue trap?

Please DO NOT try to remove the animal yourself as this often results in lacerations, broken bones, skin tears, and death. Follow these simple steps:

1. Cover the exposed adhesive with dirt/tissue/bread crumbs/crushed cereal/any other safe substance to prevent the animal from getting stuck further.
   (Image: using crushed cereal to prevent this Carolina wren from getting further stuck to a glue trap.)
2. Than, cover the animal with a towel to reduce stress.
3. The animal, still on the trap but now covered, can now be placed into a box and transported to a wildlife hospital or licensed rehabilitator.

A quick online search will typically suggest using oil. However, don’t believe everything on the internet! Many of our most common victims (rodents, bats, birds, etc.) will attempt to groom oil off and can die from excessive oil ingestion and/or it will cause damage to their fur/feathers.

Our glue trap patient is still in critical condition and the prognosis for a full recovery is guarded. We are glad that the finders brought him to us right away, giving him the best chance of survival.

We are excited to announce that Trex Company is sponsoring our Giving Tuesday match this year! Trex will be matching donations made on Giving Tuesday by donating up to $25,000 worth of materials! As you can see in this video, much of our newer caging is set on Trex platforms. This has been a game changer for us as these cages are set off the ground and can be cleaned and disinfected much more easily than wood caging.

All of our patients, whether sick, injured, or orphaned, eventually go into our outdoor caging and this donation will allow us to repair and build new caging for the 3,500+ patients we treat each year. Though the in-kind match from Trex will be used to update our patient caging, donated funds will be used for all aspects of medical and rehabilitative care!

Help us reach $25,000 by donating on 11/28! Donations can be made through our Facebook/Instagram accounts, through our website, or by check mailed to the Center. Any donation made on 11/28 (or checks made out to Blue Ridge Wildlife Center and dated 11/28) will count towards this match! You can help further by creating your own Giving Tuesday fundraisers and asking friends to help support our mission.

Looking for an easy way to help native wildlife? Become a monthly BRWC donor! For as little as $5/month, you can provide year-round, sustainable support that helps us fulfill our mission.