Squirrel babies hitch a ride

Tina and Judge Wynecoop, of Colbert, knew what to do when they discovered a nest full of five newborn red squirrels in the air filter of their Toyota SUV. The filter was removed and the baby squirrels were unwrapped from the nest and placed on a jacket on the ground. Mother squirrel took over from there. Said Tina: “She checked out her babies; she bumped up against our legs; she sniffed the air filter contents, examined the spot in the Toyota where she thought she had left her babies, and then carried her children off, one by one, and put them in a safe place under the garage rafters. A short while later she moved them a very far distance to our barn and made an obscene gesture at the 4Runner.”

Section:Gallery

Tue., June 19, 2012

Five newborn red squirrels were removed from a nest in the engine filter of a Toyota 4Runner.

Tina Wynecoop
The mother squirrel sniffs the engine filter from a Toyota SUV where she had left five babies in a nest.

Tina Wynecoop
A mother red squirrel sniffs all the contents removed from a Toyota SUV engine filter where she had left her nest full of five baby squirrels.

Tina Wynecoop
After assuring that her babies had been removed from their original nest in a Toyota SUV engine filter, this mother squirrel grabbed her offspring one by one in her mouth and moved them to a new nesting location.

Tina Wynecoop
This mother squirrel grabs the last of her five offspring in her mouth and moves it with the others to a new nesting location. She had made her original nest in the engine filter of a Toyota SUV. The owners carefully removed the nest and babies and let the mother squirrel take care of the rest.

Tina Wynecoop
After moving her offspring to safety, this mother squirrel seems to gesture at the people who removed her nest from the engine filter of their Toyota SUV. The meaning of the gesture is up to interpretation.

Tina Wynecoop