Couple Care for Wildlife After Hurricanes

Sept. 13, 2004 -- When a hurricane roars through his town in Christmas, Fla., Ron Hardee braces for the onslaught.

It's not the winds and rain he needs to prepare for; his home is designed to handle a storm. It's the flood of wildlife that people bring to his center's door that becomes overwhelming. From baby squirrels to deer to armadillos, animals can be forced out of their homes and into the cold by a hurricane's high winds and rain or roughed up and injured by flying debris.

"Most wildlife go with the flow, but that doesn't mean a hurricane isn't devastating for them too," said Hardee, who founded and runs the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Central Florida with his wife, Carol. "We just focus on the survivors — the weak don't make it."

Among the most affected, Hardee says, are baby squirrels. After Hurricane Charley, Hardee and his wife took in some 500 baby gray squirrels. When Hurricane Frances blew through a few weeks later, they found themselves foster parents of another 250 baby squirrels as people kept finding the orphaned animals and bringing them to the center's door.

Part of the squirrels' misfortune lies in the fact that most squirrel species have young around the peak of hurricane season — in late August and early September. Since the animals usually nest in trees, their homes are vulnerable to the strong winds of a hurricane. When trees are downed, the young squirrels are left homeless, shivering in the cold and separated from their parents.

What Baby Squirrels Want

What to do with 750 orphaned squirrels? In fact, Carol Hardee has written a manual on how to care for the infants. She and her husband even hold regular courses on the method to ensure they have enough volunteers who can chip in after a storm.