Two pine martens accidentally cut off from their mother are recuperating at the Scottish SPCA”s Wildlife Rescue Centre near Dunfermline.
The mother pine marten had made a den for her offspring in an outbuilding near Oban.
However, the building on the Isle of Eriska was being renovated and builders did not know they were there. They inadvertently shut out the mother for two or three days.
As pine martens with young are highly sensitive to intrusion by humans, she abandoned her four-week-old kits to fend for themselves.
Scottish SPCA senior inspector John McAvoy was called to collect the tiny and weak kits after they were discovered by builders.
A male and female, now named Maple and Oak, are now being cared for at the charity’s specialised centre at Middlebank.
Centre manager Colin Seddon said they had been weak on arrival.
“Female pine martens with young are very sensitive to human disturbance, so when she was unable to reach the den because of the building work she would have abandoned her kits for her own survival,” he said.
Since the siblings arrived, staff have bottle-fed them regularly and are now weaning them on to meat.
“The little female is taking to the weaning process very well and the male is not far behind her. They are both doing very well and they are just starting to open their eyes,” he said.
“We hope Maple and Oak will continue to progress well.”
Once they are fully weaned the charity will transfer them to a large outdoor enclosure. Contact with humans will be kept to an absolute minimum to ensure Maple and Oak are released back into the wild as truly wild animals.
Anyone who needs to report the discovery of an injured or distressed wild animal should call the Scottish SPCA’s animal helpline on 03000 999 999.