If you suspect a small mammal, such as a marmot, squirrel, mouse, rat, marten, weasel or chipmunk is injured or orphaned, please contact Think Wild at 541 241 8680.
Oftentimes a squirrel may fall out of a tree, but the parent is still nearby and will pick it within a few hours. The parent may also leave its babies if she needs to transport multiple at a time. If you find an "orphaned" squirrel baby, make sure it is safe from cats or dogs and monitor from a far for a few hours to see if the parent returns.
If the day passes and no mother is in site, keep the baby in a warm, dark, quiet place until you get in touch with a rehabilitator. Please do not feed it or give it any water.
If the animal was caught by a cat or dog, please contact us as it may need medicine as soon as possible.
If you are having conflicts with small mammals on your property, try these humane mitigation techniques:
Type of conflict
Getting into feed
- Place feed in sturdy hard plastic or metal container
- Do not leave any food out for pets
Nesting in property
- Cover any openings more than a quarter inch in diameter with ¼ inch hardware cloth or wire mesh
- Use steel wool or copper mesh to create a barrier in holes than cannot be plugged
- Place offensive odors around the nest area, soiled kitty litter, ammonia soaked cloth, Epsom salts.
Inside house
- Use a live trap with food inside to capture the animal overnight and relocate the animal outside
Eating out of bird feeders
- Place the bird feeder on a wire with two liter sized bottles on either side, strung on the wire
- Use Squirrel proof cage feeders
- Dust cayenne pepper on outside of feeder, the birds don’t mind
- Clean up seeds and debris beneath the feeder that may attract squirrels
- Prune back any bushes or trees in a 12 foot diameter around feeder (squirrels can jump over 10 feet so place away from launching points)
Tunnel in and around irrigation ditches
- Remove food source, prescribed burning of aquatic vegetation in the area when ditches are low or dry
- Allow ditches to run dry when not in use to reduce overwintering habitat