Bart B. Van Bockstaele Baby eastern grey squirrel, fallen from the nest. image:39596:9::0

Many people feel that they must "help". However, as city dwellers, we have mostly lost contact with the realities of life in nature. In the vast majority of cases, our help is actually causing a problem were there was none to begin with.

The best thing that can be done, is to do nothing at all. Nearly always, the parents are nearby. They will pick up the little critters and bring them back to the nest. We should not touch the animals at all, for we could impart them our smell, and that would lead the parents to reject them or maybe even to kill them.

According to the Toronto Humane Society, only after a few hours would it be OK to give them a shallow dish of water, but only if their eyes are open.

If they are not crying, one can very carefully pinch the base of their tail to make them yell for their parents, in order to attract their attention.

If the parents have not retrieved them after at least 24 hours (that's at least a whole day and a whole night!), they can be brought to the Humane Society.

I think that this is good advice that we can easily generalize. How would we feel if some big monsters would pluck us from the street every now and then, start to manipulate us, put us in a box or a cage, only to give us food that does not agree with us, only to release us somewhere in strange surroundings?

Wildlife has its own life. It should be left alone, no matter how much we'd like to hold it, pet it, or help it. Sometimes, the best way to help is to do nothing at all and let nature take its course.