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Daily Record
Daily Record
National
Sean Murphy

Tiny red squirrel kittens saved and hand-reared by dedicated team after being found

A Scottish animal charity has shared the adorable story of how they were able to save four beautiful red squirrel kittens. The Scottish SPCA posted a picture of the four cute little squirrels on their Facebook page after they were successfully hand-reared and reintroduced into the wild.

Thanking their supporters for making it possible, they shared images of a trio of tiny siblings named Peanut, Pecan and Poppy who were discovered when they were just two to three weeks old. So young, the little squirrel's eyes hadn't even opened yet.

They were paired with fellow orphan Pumpkin, who was just a little older at four weeks old when they were discovered.

The SSPCA wrote: "Due to being so close in age, we grouped them together for their rehabilitation.

"All four squirrels were hand-reared by one of our dedicated team members for around five weeks. This involved round-the-clock care, feeding them every three hours, even through the night."

The red squirrels have been successfully released back in to the wild (SSPCA FB)

READ MORE: Cheeky red squirrel sets up shop in Scots Greggs store sparking animal rescue operation

They then revealed that at around nine weeks old, the little kittens were weaned on to a solid diet and were moved into an aviary for a further month. After that, they were successfully released back into the wild where they belong.

The charity added: "We couldn’t be there for wild animals like Peanut, Pecan, Poppy and Pumpkin without you.

"Thank you so much for supporting us. In the last 365 days, our National Wildlife Rescue Centre has cared for 6,542 animals."

The post was part of a campaign to raise awareness for #ScottishAnimalWeek with the SSPCA asking people to consider taking on a 365 gaming, fitness, or DIY challenge, to help raise funds, which you can find out about here.

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