‘Rare’ squirrels set free together after bonding at Florida wildlife hospital

Big Cypress fox squirrels released as a pair to reduce stress and support natural behaviors during return to the wild

Two “rare and elusive” juvenile squirrels have a new home for the holidays after they were injured falling from their nests and spent several weeks in a Florida wildlife “rehab” facility.

The pair of Big Cypress fox squirrels, a threatened species so uncommon that the Conservancy of Southwest Florida hasn’t treated one in at least a decade, was released back into the wild at a carefully selected site rich in “high-quality pine and cypress habitat” near the nest where one of them was originally found.