31 flying squirrels take refuge in local animal shelter

More than 30 flying squirrels have found a temporary home at the Humane Animal Rescue of Pittsburgh’s Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Penn Hills.

The native rodents, southern flying squirrels, were brought to the center this winter in two large groups after the squirrels’ Western Pennsylvania homes were no longer suitable.

Katie Kefalos, director of wildlife rehabilitation at the center, said the 31 squirrels have adjusted to their outdoor enclosures. The center has provided enrichment to keep the animals entertained with piles of leaves and straw, as well as contraptions where the squirrels have to work a bit to find food.

“They have been gliding in our larger space, which is pretty cool. It is one of the requirements to keep them enriched,” she said. “It is exciting that they are doing that.”

Kefalos said the center usually takes care of a group of southern flying squirrels each year, but this year is the largest population they have taken in.

The larger group of 19 squirrels was brought to the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center by the Pennsylvania Game Commission after their habitat near Bolivar village in eastern Westmoreland County was destroyed. Kefalos said the group is being kept in a large enclosure in the center and arrived Feb. 1.

The smaller group arrived Feb. 8 and has been broken up into two groups and kept in two slightly smaller enclosures. Kefalos said this group was brought from the Tamarack Wildlife Center in Crawford County after a home they were living in was sold and the sellers worried the new buyers wouldn’t accept the flying squirrels living in the home’s attic.

She said all the squirrels were evaluated upon arrival and were uninjured. Kefalos said they are being kept in the center until mid-April because, when their habitats were no longer suitable, that meant their cached food — acorns, nuts and other food they gathered before winter — was lost. She said it will only be safe to return them to the wild when spring fully arrives and they can forage again.

“We are happy to help their populations and hold on to them until it warms up and they can be put back,” said Kefalos.

Southern flying squirrels are the smaller of two flying squirrel species that call Pennsylvania home. The other is the larger northern flying squirrel, which is endangered in the state, Kefalos said. Despite their name, they can’t fly and, instead, have flaps of skin attached to their legs that enable them to glide long distances from tree to tree.

Flying squirrels are nocturnal and aren’t typically spotted in the wild by humans.

Kefalos said the center has been feeding the squirrels a diet of nuts such as acorns, walnuts and almonds, as well as fruits and vegetables and even some insects. She said the goal is to try to keep their temporary diet in the shelter as close to what they typically would eat.

Humane Animal Rescue will accept donations to help pay for food and enrichment until the squirrels are released in the spring.

More information can be found at the Humane Animal Rescue’s website.