How 5 baby squirrels knotted together by their tails got untangled at the Humane Society

Some siblings are close, but then there are the five baby gray squirrels who bonded so well they were inseparable.

Literally.

When a pet carrier filled with squirrels was brought last Thursday to the Wisconsin Humane Society's Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Milwaukee, it looked like a seething, roiling, furry tempest.

Wildlife rehabilitators were surprised to see four squirrels with their tails hopelessly entwined. Donning leather gloves, they pulled out the agitated mob and realized there were actually five.

"Which tells you how jumbled they were," Crystal Sharlow-Schaefer, the center's wildlife supervisor, said Tuesday.

It was like a tug of war with each squirming squirrel trying to break free from their littermates. Which, of course, only tightened the knot.

"They were agitated. It was a very animated bundle of fur," said Scott Diehl, the wildlife center's director.

After checking their vital signs — temperature, respiration and heart rates with a pediatric stethoscope — the squirrel sibs were anesthetized. As they slumbered, Diehl began to unravel the mess, a task he compared to the mythic Gordian knot.

First, the critters were fanned out like spokes of a wheel. Then, using surgical scissors, Diehl began cutting away long grass and bits of plastic embedded in the tails that were likely parts of their nest. Gradually, strand by strand, tail by tail, the squirrels were separated from their kin. 

The procedure took Diehl about 20 minutes. 

Diehl was concerned about swelling in the tails from the traumatic experience. But aside from lesions and sores, which were cleaned and treated with antibiotic ointment, Diehl was able to save their tails.

Squirrels can survive without their tails but it's not easy. Tails are used for balance when leaping across tree branches or power lines. In winter, tails are like a cozy scarf squirrels use to stay warm. They're also used for communication — anyone who has seen a ticked-off squirrel knows how they flick their tails in anger or frustration.

A woman noticed the squirrel pile near her Franklin apartment and asked a friend to help bring them to the Humane Society. It's unknown how the tangled squirrels managed to get out of their nest, but perhaps one jumped and brought down the rest of the family.

Because they couldn't eat or drink while connected, the kits were suffering from dehydration. Had they not been found by the good Samaritan, it's likely they would have died, Diehl said.

The Wisconsin Humane Society's Wildlife Rehabilitation Center handles about 5,000 animals each year. Along with the knotted squirrels, the center is currently treating a great horned owl possibly suffering from West Nile virus, a coyote and three red foxes with mange, other orphaned squirrels, a Cooper's hawk injured in a vehicle collision and a Canada goose shot by an arrow.

Squirrel moms give birth to two litters each year, in the spring and late summer, with an average litter size of four naked, blind kits. At four weeks, their eyes open and they have a velvety-like fur coat. The tail-tangled squirrel babies are likely 5 to 6 weeks old.

Since they were separated, the squirrel brothers and sisters have been recuperating in a warm, quiet area, dining on squirrel formula, biscuits, apples, sweet corn, carrots, peanuts, sunflower seeds and acorns.

Tuesday morning they were hanging out in a large enclosure in the back of the Humane Society's building with four inside a wooden nest box that occasionally moved as inhabitants squirmed. One squirrel hung on chainlink siding, its tail looking a bit worse for wear. 

Diehl said the squirrels can expect to grow fluffier tails in the coming months. They will be returned to the area where they were found so they can hopefully reconnect with their mother.

In the meantime, Humane Society officials are surprised at how much the tale of the entwined squirrels has resonated with people.

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They have been interviewed by journalists in England, Norway, Australia, Ireland and several other countries. And Conan O'Brien spoofed the Milwaukee squirrels' plight with a bit Monday night where five of his staff members' ponytails were tangled.

"It's awesome. It's a common species, but this highlights what we do — building a community that values animals and treats them with kindness and respect," said Sharlow-Schaefer.

For more information about the nonprofit Wisconsin Humane Society — wihumane.org