Niwot knitters make nesting baskets for orphaned wildlife

Life may have started out a little sad for orphaned baby squirrels at Greenwood Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, but they have a cozy place to curl up and grow up thanks to homemade nesting baskets from some Niwot women.

"I'm hopelessly in love with all critters," said Jane Langdon who saw the idea on a wildlife rescue website. Langdon, Kathy Koehler and various knitting and crocheting friends meet on Thursday afternoons at Old Oak Coffeehouse.

"This was a fun project and one of those 'feel good' things to do," said Koehler. "It was a good use of remnants of yarn from other projects. The orphan babies are not picky of colors."

But they are picky about how the baskets are constructed, or at least the people at Greenwood are. The stitches need to be tight so the sides of the baskets don't collapse and the nest holds up to little claws and repeated washings to keep them clean from inevitable baby messes.

"The tightness made them challenging and I did not work on the ones I did for too long as my hand/fingers would hurt with the strength required," Koehler said.

"We are super appreciative," said Mysti Tatro, who handles communications for Greenwood. She said they have a regular group of volunteers who makes them, but they are happy for the extras. In fact, they use hundreds of them because they can have hundreds of baby squirrels and baby birds who use them in the spring.

Tatro said they are currently inundated with baby squirrels. Baby birds will be coming soon. Ideally, the babies don't have to come into the center. Greenwood has a tab for a “Wildlife Emergency”on the website for people who find an injured animal or a baby that appears to be separated from its mom. Tatro encourages people to read the information but to also call the center to find out what to do in their specific situation. The best thing is to try to reunite baby and mama before taking an animal to Greenwood.

"We want them to be with their mother more than anything. So we ask people to keep the baby in the same spot so mom has a chance," Tatro said. That can involve a warm box and even a baby squirrel soundtrack to attract the mother.

If that's unsuccessful, or if there are other factors like injuries, Greenwood will take them into the center, where volunteers do their best to rehabilitate them and send them back into the wild.

Greenwood recently had a very successful "baby shower" that allowed people to buy supplies and donate to the center. They have plenty of knitted nests for the time being, but they can always use donations or you can sponsor an animal.