From: John K. Pollard Jr.
Sent: Sunday, April 30, 2006 6:06 PM
To: Chicklitmaster
Subject: Chicklit Release 4/30/06. FINNEGAN THE SQUIRREL

     Several Chicklits have submitted this one for circulation.  Here in Del Mar, where the Squirrels are systematically destroying the oceanside bluffs, the pita folk and allies in the TV press have organized to discourage a town effort to euthanize some fraction of these animals before houses and railroad tracks join the bluffs in the surf. Squirrels may be trapped but cannot be released so this is no answer.

    Now I learn that Encinitas has the same problem and the same frustration with their efforts at control. Unlike Papillons, Jack Russell terriers would enjoy doing the job but local leash laws and public outcry won't permit this either.

    Unlike the Papillons, Jack Russell Terriers would be glad to take on this responsibility but local leash laws and public outcry make this approach to biocontrol unlikely.  Eventually the local barn owls will discover our coastal killing fields and mitigate the subterranean attack on our bluffs and their above ground inhabitants.

    Finnegan's "Moms" have a different approach.  Save the little critter at all costs.  The pictures are pretty cute.  Enjoy them.

"Finnegan" the squirrel


For about as long as she can remember, Debby Cantlon says,  friends and strangers

have brought her animals in need. So it wasn't  much of a surprise when someone asked

her if she'd care for a newborn  squirrel found at the base of a tree somewhere near Renton.  




Debby Cantlon, who  plans to release Finnegan, the young squirrel, back into

the wild,  bottle-fed the infant squirrel after it was brought to her house.  

Cantlon, who has cancer, says rescuing injured animals is therapeutic  for her.




When Cantlon took in  the tiny creature and began caring for him, she found

herself with an  unlikely nurse's aide: her pregnant Papillon, Mademoiselle Giselle.  




Finnegan was resting  in a nest in a cage just days before Giselle was due to deliver her  puppies.





Cantlon and her  husband watched as the dog dragged the squirrel's cage twice

to her  own bedside before she gave birth.




Cantlon was  concerned, yet ultimately decided to allow the squirrel out and the 

inter-species bonding began.




Finnegan  rides a puppy mosh pit of sorts, burrowing in for warmth after

feeding,  and eventually working his way beneath his new litter mates.  




Two days after giving  birth, mama dog Giselle allowed Finnegan to nurse; family

photos and a  videotape show her encouraging him to suckle alongside her litter of  five pups.




Now, Finnegan mostly  uses a bottle, but still snuggles with his "siblings" in a mosh

pit of  puppies, rolling atop their bodies and sinking in deeply for a nap.  




Finnegan and his new  litter mates, five Papillion puppies, get along together as

if they were  meant to.




Finnegan naps after  feeding.




Finnegan makes  himself at home with his new litter mates, nuzzling nose-to-nose

for a  nap after feeding.