OkcPets Magazine January 2021

January/February 2021 • OKC Pets 11 O ne amazing thing about rehabilitat- ing wildlife is how it leads to totally unforeseen situations that when you’re lucky bring incredible joy. Of course, there are the dark ones as well; however, moments like this keep us going. I admit, my story starts with heartbreak. Stay with me here. It was shortly after Thanksgiving a few years ago that my aging “forever puppy,” Vernon Mooseburger, had a fatal heart attack. He’d been suffering from seizures and plenty of other problems for quite a while, as older pets do, so it wasn’t unexpected. But it was horrendously painful, deep enough that I pledged a moratorium on pets for some time. He’d been a big boy, and his vet—Dr. Welch at Forest Trails—was willing to help me with his body. I could barely keep myself together as they lifted what had been 106 pounds of love onto a gurney and wheeled him from the alley through the clinic’s back door. Once it closed, I dissolved into big snotty tears, sitting alone in the car. As the waterworks began to subside, my cell phone rang. Weary of the ache and grateful for any kind of distraction, I hauled in a giant sniff and answered. A woman and her family had been watching three baby flying squirrels all day; they were alone, clinging to each other on a rock in the backyard. She said several trees had been cut down and hauled off a few days prior to their appearance. No mama had shown up for hours. Should they leave them there for the night? Or... would I take them? Flying squirrels? FLYING SQUIRRELS? As these were some of my early rehabber days, I didn’t even know flying squirrels existed in Oklahoma. I didn’t remember seeing one at any zoo. (Sugar gliders, yes; flying squirrels? Nope.) My animal-loving spirit took over and replied. I assured her I’d happily accept them, and we arranged a drop off. I hung up, and the tears came again—this time, out of gratitude that fate If one looks up into the sky at night, the eye will be tricked into thinking the wind is filtering moonlight through the trees. An active colony might give the impression that fairies truly exist. Photo courtesy of Kathy Locker Rehabbing flying squirrels WRITTEN BY: Kim Doner