Over the last seven years, Entraide pour les écureils du Quebec has seen its membership balloon to over 1,650 members. Members in Montreal, the North and South Shores and elsewhere find and adopt young, orphaned squirrels, then wean them until they are ready to be released.
The groups estimates they have saved 300 baby squirrels so far this year.
Group administrator Alexandra Dumont of Chambly used to find the creatures a nuisance, but changed her mind when she had the chance to adopt a few: 'You realize they all have individual personalites, they're really different and entertaining.'
Foster parents give their tiny wards puppy milk and keep them in cages. Dumont says when squirrels are ready to be released, their caregivers bring them to trees in their backyards or areas away from urban centres.
'A lot of people don't understand why we try to save them, because they're not endangered,' Dumont told Andrew Carter. 'But a lof of the baby squirrels we find are orphaned by human activity.'
'I feel like when you see a baby that needs help, no matter the animal, and if you have the opportunity to help them, you should.'