Kindness is Always Appreciated
“Kimberly does not drive into Portland.”
This is what I tell anyone who asks me to go there. I appreciate some of the wonderful activities that can be found in Portland, but I don’t like being in there. Just not my type of atmosphere.
Today, I was gifted an opportunity to addendum that statement:
“Kimberly goes into Portland and up into the hills within Forest Park to the only wildlife center in the area that tends to injured and abandoned animals”.
It’s a Tuesday, and I’m out getting groceries. As I pull into the parking lot of my local grocery store, my eye catches something on the ground…something tiny…something that shouldn’t be there…
It’s a baby squirrel. Struggling, falling over and over onto the hot, sharp and rumbly pavement as the cars pass dangerously close by it. My car almost squished it.
Panick and fear rushed into my heart. I knew I needed to do something, but what?! What is being asked of me to assist this little guy?
I find a parking spot, and pray. I prayed hard and earnestly. “How do I help? Please guide me and guide this encounter. Help me to be here for that little guy in the best way possible because I just don’t know what to do.”
I get the towels from my car that I keep with a jug of water and some bird food (in case someone needs fed, watered, or helped). Armed with more of a desire to help than with any real life experience, I made my way to Baby Squirrel, alongside the passing cars; some who noticed him, some who did not. He was so little. He couldn’t stay upright, kept falling over, eyes closed, so skinny. His body was no longer than the palm of my hand, his tail about the same. He was easy to collect, and once in the safety and softness of the towel within my hands, he stopped struggling. Had he been freaking out and difficult to handle, we would have had a very different trajectory to figure out because I wouldn’t have felt safe to handle him!
We arrived at a veterinary office, just down the street, who gave me the number to the wildlife rehab center on the other side of Portland… approximately an hour drive from me. I wasn’t sure he would make that drive, and I really didn’t want to have to go through Portland to get there. I called first to see if they could guide my efforts and perhaps direct me to a closer wildlife center.
The lovely lady I spoke with invited me to bring him in (they are the only center in the area for wildlife rehab/care). The one thing she had to make me aware of is that if this squirrel is not a native species to the Pacific Northwest, they would, by law and protocol, need to humanely euthanize him. While some would be very upset with this information, I was thankful for her honestly. What some have a difficult time understanding (myself included in my younger years), is that in trying to honor the very real need to support a thriving native community, it can mean needing to eliminate the species who should not be here and whom take the resources and habitat from those who are so dependent on it; whether plant, animal, or otherwise. Ultimately, I felt that Baby Squirrel was in kind and loving hands with them, whichever way this played out. I felt that his potential death through them would be so much kinder than leaving him to suffer and die at the hands dehydration/starvation, a predator, a car, or in my grocery box.
So, the kind thing to do, since I was capable of bringing him to competent help, was to do so…road trip!
The drive was a mixed bag of emotions. Since he was in an open box, I was concerned that he may come alive and freak out in my car. But, given how he looked, I felt that he was down for the count in that box and that my focus could be better put to use in loving him and calling in angels to support his tiny body and his beautiful spirit. I asked that they hold him in peace and grace and total support. I felt that he was aware of the love that was with him from all of us. Energetically, I kept sending him little pink hearts filled with love and gentleness.
When we had made our way through downtown Portland and began entering the edges of Forest Park, I could feel the ease of breath returning to my body and the embrace of nature. Such a pretty area.
Once I got him to the wildlife center, it was determined that he was not native and that they would be obligated to euthanize him. I thanked the young lady who met me at the door and would be taking him for his final moments. I wrapped him in love and placed him in her care. I thanked her for the kindness that all of them show to each creature who arrives at their door.
Standing with a tree outside of their drop-off building, I shared a moment of gratitude and some sadness. In those moments, I felt the presence of the baby squirrel come to us energetically. I saw so many little pink hearts coming from him, even a tiny squirrel hug!
And I knew in that moment that all is well.
It reminded me of what the baby trees told me months ago, when I was lovingly plucking their little bodies from the ground because there was not enough room for them to grow:
“Kindness is ALWAYS appreciated.”
**If you live in the Pacific Northwest, USA and are in need of resources or a facility to assist with the care of a wild creature, The Bird Alliance is a great resource, both by phone and online:
https://birdallianceoregon.org/
💗🤍🖤💜💙💚💛🧡❤️
In deepest love and gratitude, munay <3
Kimberly Logan
Harmonic Luminosity
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