Pine Martin

December 31, 2011 7:43am CST
Back in the summer my grandson found what he called a dead skunk, in the garden. When we went to check it out it turned out to be a Pine martin. Next to the dead body we found a very young cub it's eyes not even open. Being animal overs we took it indoors to try an care for it but it died after a few hours. We hadn't noriced at first but it had been bitten on the stomach and must have suffered internal injuries. Naturally we were all upset when it died. The following day we found another cub on the spot where the dead mother had been. This one had no injuries and we cared for it as best we could giving it milk and cat food. It turned out to be a funny little creature that thrived amongst our cats and kittens. It was loving and mischievous and had a great personality. When it was about 4 months old it decided to leave us - well it's a wild aminal so we didn't try to keep it unless that's what it wanted. He still comes to visit us regularly but never stays. Does anyones else have any experience similar to this? What would you do if you found a wild animal in your garden? I'd love to hear your thoughts and experiences.
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1 response
marie2052
@marie2052 (3691)
• United States
17 Jan 12
Thats awesome that you got to experience the little fella. We have opossums that are left behind by mothers. They all pile on mom and when she is traveling if one falls off she does not go back and get it. So we have homeless opossums every year. My son and I decided to take the state test so we could care for orphaned opossums. This was a lengthy process. In the meantime where the babies were held we went and picked one out and come every day to feed it and take it out and love it. It took a couple months to get our little fella and Opossums do not have a long shelf life Basically the average opossum only lives up to a year and half. They age very rapidly. We had the state approved size cage, and we brought Scrat (as we named him) home and he did live right at a year and half. It was an awesome experience into learning about wildlife. My son is always on the lookout to bring something home unusual. And have to admit sometimes its not something I want in the house. But he has been very good through the years learning and taking care of his unusual critters and we learn more about them than just seeing then in a zoo. Hope you enjoyed learning about the Pine martin.