Retired California teaching assistant Angel Barba has spent the past seven years rescuing and raising orphaned and fallen baby squirrels. From her home in Lafayette, California, she and a web of volunteers mobilize each spring when backyard pruning, storms and other hazards send nests tumbling to the ground.
This year’s peak baby-squirrel season has kept Barba busy. Her current litter includes six youngsters barely three weeks old. Feeding is intensive: a single bottle session can take an hour, and the tiniest babies may need to be fed as often as a dozen times daily. The work is constant and precise — keeping the pups warm, following a strict formula schedule, and monitoring their development so they’re introduced to climbing, solid food or outdoor enclosures at the right moment.
Barba and her volunteer network work closely with wildlife centers. At the Lindsey Wildlife Experience near San Francisco, director Peter Flowers says the hospital has seen hundreds of baby squirrels this season. Even though baby squirrels seem common, populations of native species like the California ground squirrel have fallen over decades, and rescuers worry that without continued intervention such pressures could push numbers down further.
The goal for rehabilitators is always to return animals to the wild, which is why caregivers usually avoid naming the babies so they don’t imprint on people. Still, there are quiet rewards. Barba recalls released squirrels that pause and seem to recognize her before darting away — a small, unmistakable moment of connection.
Between round-the-clock feedings, cleaning, and coordinating releases, Barba’s commitment shows how much volunteer hours and steady, hands-on care matter for vulnerable wildlife. In a season when nests come down and newborns need help, people like her provide the attention and expertise many young animals require to survive and thrive.