An injured red squirrel that was sniffed out by a dog is now recovering in Scottish SPCA care.
The seven-week-old squirrel was rescued by Scotland’s animal welfare charity after a dog walker found him grounded on a forest floor near Auchtermuchty on Sunday.
The springer spaniel, a trained gun dog, ‘pointed’ to the squirrel which was struggling to move and his owner picked up the little creature and carried him home in his hat.
After caring for him overnight he contacted the Scottish SPCA for help and Inspector Nicola Liddell collected the young squirrel and took him to the charity’s wildlife rescue centre near Dunfermline, where staff have named him Hamish.
Centre manager Colin Seddon said, “It’s likely that Hamish lost his balance while out exploring the trees and landed on the ground. He did have a sore leg when he first came in to us, probably due to the fall, but he seems to be doing much better now.
“Hamish has started to feed himself so we will keep handling to a minimum from now on. This means that when he’s fully fit we can return him to his natural habitat as a truly wild animal with the best chance of survival.”
To report an injured or distressed animal call the Scottish SPCA on 03000 999 999.
Photo used under a Creative Commons licence courtesy of Flickr user Dave_S.