Aberfeldy wildlife expert Polly Pullar is looking after three baby red squirrels after their drey was blown out of a tree in the recent storms.
Resident Liz Johnson found the helpless creatures in her garden with their eyes still shut.
She waited to see if the mother would collect them but as the day was very cold and they wouldn’t survive in such conditions for long, she took them to the vet who handed them to Polly to be hand-reared.
The young squirrels, just a few weeks old, weigh about five ounces each and are very fragile.
Polly is feeding them milk every three hours and hopes to look after them until the summer.
They may not be strong enough to be released into the wild by then, however, and will still need to be cared for in a setting where they will be fed.
“They are very fragile creatures and they have a long road ahead of them if they are to survive,” said Polly.
“The red squirrel is one of the loveliest of all Scottish mammals, but it is now dangerously near the brink of extinction, driven to the edge by the invasion of the stronger grey that carries the lethal squirrel pox virus.
“The greys also compete for food and are able to eat many nuts and seeds long before they are ripe enough for reds to digest.”
Polly said there was another serious threat to red squirrels’ survival and sadly one nearer to home the domestic cat.
“Red squirrels, and in particular the young, are pitifully slow on the ground and all too often killed by cats,” she added.
She urged owners to put collars and bells on their cats to alert baby red squirrels to their presence and give them a chance to escape.
She said, “A friend told me that her cats had killed a total of six squirrels in the space of a few weeks, and my neighbours’ cats here have had at least five that I know of.
“I would beg people to try to help the squirrel by putting a bell on their cats.
“After all, most cats are very well fed and certainly do not need to add our precious red squirrels to their diet.”