Pip & Pop & the Circle of Life

This summer on a walk around the block, my youngest daughter noticed something on the sidewalk. "Baby pigs!" she squealed with delight.  Her dad knowing better realized they were newborn squirrels that had somehow fallen out of their nest.  Her older sister, an aspiring vet decided she would make them a nest of grass, taking them off of the sidewalk.   As I rounded the corner on my way home, she called me over to see what she had discovered - two baby squirrels.  I felt sorry for them so I told her to take them in and we would try and care for them hoping that they would survive the night.

Our weather has been so sporadic - hot one day, cold the next.  They couldn't stay outside overnight. I let her make a basket of pillow fluff and blankets for them to sleep on and brought them in.  I quickly went on the 'net to see how to care for these creatures - as I have never seen anything so helpless in my life.  They were hairless, eyes closed and had the tiniest cry you could ever hear. We managed to find some info and got them a makeshift hot water bottle, eye dropper, and liquids to get them hydrated.  My daughter's favourite show was "Bear in the Big Blue House" and I told her she should name the babies 'Pip and Pop' after the two otter characters on the show. After round-the-clock care, the morning after my daughter woke me up early in a panic - the squirrels were cold and barely moving.  :(  I tried my best to help get warm again, tried to reassure her they were ok as they were still moving.

Our family was planning on going to our local open fishing day and as we were getting ready to go, the boy squirrel named Pop stopped moving.  He had died.  Then as though she knew her baby brother wouldn't be with her anymore, Pip, the baby girl, had passed suddenly too.  My daughter was devastated.  All the hopes of raising Pip & Pop to a furry little baby squirrel stage and releasing them back to the wild were gone.  Not what I had envisioned would happen.  It was my daughter's first experience of a death of an animal she helped care for.  I know should she realize her dream of becoming a vet this is something she would have to eventually face when she gets older, but she grieved them as any 'mother' would.  I reassured her that Pip & Pop are in heaven, and a day doesn't go by when we don't think about our first experience trying to care for pair of baby squirrels. 

Have you ever found an animal and tried to rehabilitate it? Were you sucessful?  How do you deal with death of a pet and children? Your thoughts...