All they need is love. . .

Okay I know the name of the song is "All you need is love".

However.

"I have killed more squirrels that you can imagine," Dr. Keith Holland told me.  "I always think of them as tree rats.  They get the seeds I put out for the birds.  Once they even destroyed five small trees I had planted", he continued.

Keith was telling me this as he gently lifted one of the baby squirrels that he is caring for.

He is a dentist; not a vet.

When Sandy Arpen, the Chairman of the Board at the Mandarin Museum, told me that Keith was coming to help with some Maple Leaf archives that he has recently borrowed to display at the museum, and that he was bringing the squirrels, I was much more than curious.

I have heard of rescue dogs and rescue cats and although I am not really an animal lover, I think they are cute and appreciate the way people are adopting them and caring for them.

But "rescue squirrels".

It seems a hawk had gotten the mama squirrel and the nest fell into the yard where a nine year old patient of the dentist lived.  Her grandfather knew that Keith had recently been unsuccessful in his attempt to save another squirrel.

"I think this is my second chance", said Keith.

And so it was on that Friday that I watched as Keith filled a syringe with strawberry flavored Pedialyte and slowly fed Stich  After ten syringes had been dispensed into her tiny little mouth, he gently washed her face and handed her to me.

She was wrapped in a towel and Keith told me to stroke her head.  He said "any creature just needs to be loved".

He followed the same procedure with Pascal and then we put them back into their climate controlled cage - which includes a heating pad, a thermometer, a few twigs from a tree's branch and a little cloth hutch where they sleep. 

I watched as they played a bit and then snuggled in to the hutch.

Keith and the Maple Leaf divers were at the Museum the next day as a part of our participation in Smithsonian Day when all of our buildings were open.  I used to take my kids to work with me -- sometimes I take my mother - I never have taken an animal.  However, there was Keith with that little cage.

"It is necessary that they are fed every two hours", he said.  "So, they have to go with me".

I must have passed muster when I held Stitch because on Saturday I got to feed her.

And then I asked Keith - what happens when they outgrow the cage?  I was really saying when will it be time to let them go?

"It's almost time for them to go back to the first person who loved them, my little patient," he said.

I doubted that the little girl would care for the squirrels quite like my new friend.  I suspect that her parents will encourage her to let them go back into their natural habitat.

When I accepted the job at the Museum, I had no clue what I was getting in for.  Every day there's something new, fun, interesting.

It's been said that a person who lives alone should have a pet.  Am I going to rush right out and rescue a squirrel?  Well - no.

Neither am I going to get friendly with the black racer that lives under the porch at the museum.