Spring has officially sprung early this year.
The first baby animals of the season have arrived at a wildlife care facility in Monroe County.
That means they’re already behind when it comes to supplies.
It may have snowed at Pocono Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education Center in Hamilton Township after their groundhogs made their prediction but the ultimate sign Old Man Winter’s days are numbered just arrived.
Pocono Wildlife Co- Executive Director Janine Tancredi says, "It’s kind of the rehabbers way of knowing spring is arriving, is their first set of squirrels and we have them."
Baby season is starting about a month earlier than it did last year at the nonprofit.
Tancredi says, "A little nervous. We have been doing several fundraisers for formula, for the necessities that we need in order to move forward with the season and we haven’t gotten a whole lot of success with that."
The six baby squirrels came from Bethlehem two nights ago and are only around a week old.
Pocono Wildlife Staff Member Sharon Wycoff says, "You can look at them and if you pinch the skin and it doesn’t go back right away, they’re a little dehydrated. But they’re not terrible."
Wycoff has been providing them the necessary around the clock care which includes rehydration
Wycoff says, "Now they’re going to use that fluid to actually process their food so you wait until after they’ve eaten and then you can redo it if they’re still dehydrated."
They also need to be stimulated to go to the bathroom and currently need to be fed five times a day. Just like for a human newborn, it’s a lot of work.
Wycoff says, "Yeah it is, it can be. But it’s nice work so you don’t think of it as work.
Right now just one tank is occupied but soon all of the tanks will be housing baby squirrels. And that’s just one species that will be in their care.
Tancredi says, "When we get to full capacity, ideally 10 people per shift is what it takes to keep everything running on time. The laundry, we go through 10-12 loads of laundry a day during baby season. Baby birds need to be fed every 15-20 minutes so it’s constant."
Volunteers and funding are both crucially needed. It costs around eight thousand dollars just for orphan baby formula. But they still need food, medication and all of the other supplies in order to raise each animal to be released back into the wild. If you’d like to help, just go to the center’s website at poconowildlife.com or contact them in Monroe County.