Bruiser's Buddies Wildlife Rehabilitation

02/24/2025

This mischievous little flying squirrel found ONE loose bar in his cage and it made just enough space for him to squiggle on out! Imagine my surprise when I came in and a bunch of stuff was knocked down on the floor. That night, he came out, watched me from various perches in the room, and explored my craft supplies shelf. Maybe he wanted to make something he found on Pinterest! 🤣 Anyway, he succumbed to the allure of hazelnuts and water in the havaheart trap and was reunited with his family. Never a dull moment when you're housing a scurry of squirrels!

02/06/2025

Everything is pretty quiet here. Nine flying squirrels are VASTLY different from nine grey squirrels! They barely make any noise, although they DO still make a mess of their food! I don't see them much, but when I do, they don't seem very bothered by my presence. There's occasionally chirping and mild grumbles from inside the sleep sacks and best boxes but otherwise you'd hardly know they were here.

01/30/2025

Today, I got to witness a positive outcome in action thanks to quick thinking and persistent work from my wildlife rehab colleagues who did the phone calls and emails and FB comments to get the Dansville squirrel hunt scheduled for this weekend CANCELLED. I heard about it this morning but was offline most of the day, only to come back to find it was cancelled after being reported to the DEC. Wildlife hunting contests were made illegal in NY in December 2023. Not only were they breaking the law (offering prizes for largest single squirrel and highest combined weight of six squirrels 🤮) they were also holding this hunt in the time frame where the mamas are pregnant and will be having their babies in just a couple more weeks. There are a bunch of angry people over on the event page, and I can't say it makes sense to me. But, I'm grateful to have these ladies in my circle, and hopeful that the DEC will go down there on the 2nd and make sure nothing shady goes down. 💗🐿️

01/28/2025

Just flying squirrel stuff 💗 They don't seem to mind me when they are out, Juni isn't sure how she feels about them, they don't seem to notice her at all lol. I rarely see them but I hear scuffles and the food disappears so we're just plugging along. 💗🐿️

01/20/2025

01/19/2025

In case anyone missed it, I wanted to reshare the video of my newest intakes, three flying squirrels! They'll be spending the winter here instead of in the finder's attic and will be released in the spring into more suitable habitat 💗🐿️

01/04/2025

One of my colleagues, another local rehabber, is running her first Baby Warm incubator campaign!! Every dollar helps, we've gotta keep those babies warm!!
https://www.babywarm.org/rehabber/skie-c/

I’ve always believed, that if you can help a life, there’s no reason you shouldn’t try. & that’s exactly what I’ve done ever since I was a child. Becoming a rehabber was once upon a time , “when I grow up…!” Dream of mine, & I’m so happy I made that stride this past year, along wit...

01/02/2025

As we start 2025, I wanted to share some of the many, many animals we were able to help last year, thanks in large part to YOU. Sometimes, help meant successful release. Sometimes, help meant a peaceful, painless transition out of this world. Regardless of the outcome, every single animal in these pictures was clean, warm, given food, water and medicine as needed for comfort. The cost is staggering, mentally, physically, emotionally, financially on my own, I'd do what I could afford. But thanks to everyone who follows here and either donates to Venmo or sends us wishlist items, I can take so, so many more than I could afford to on my own.
In that vein, as I take stock and look ahead to baby season, which could start as early as February (but hopefully will hold off until March or April...) I've updated our wishlist on Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/381N8GTAQESE?ref_=list_d_wl_ys_list_1

Or if you'd rather, you can send funds via Venmo to
All donations will go directly back into animal care.
In 2025, I'll be registering Juni as an education ambassador animal, and joining forces with LittleFoot Wildlife Rehab to register as a 501c nonprofit. Stay tuned for updates on all fronts, and thank you again for all of your support in 2024. 💗🐿️

12/26/2024

Merry Christmas from Juni and everyone else here at Bruiser's Buddies. 💗🐿️🌲

12/03/2024

Hi Bruiser's Buddies! It's a long post, stick with me! Apparently today is called "giving Tuesday", but I'm new to this fundraising thing so I kind of missed the boat.
I'm not currently a 501c (working on it!!) and I don't have anyone signed on to match donations. I'm not great at asking for help, even WORSE at asking for money...that said, I do have small handmade business and so, I'm going to post some stuff I've made. All proceeds from the things I post here will go into running Bruiser's Buddies. I've had to put my Etsy shop on hold this year due to some hand problems, so I don't have a ton made and I'm working much more slowly. But, if you see something you like, comment sold on the picture, and either post or message me your email address. I'll send a PayPal invoice and get these in the mail. I'll also be at the Last Minute Mini Mayday on 12/22, with a but of an expanded selection as I continue to work through until then. I can't link the event here apparently but I'll put that info in the photos as well.
ALSO, I will have TWO special items available for pre order!!
We're printing a 2025 calendar, with each month featuring different animals we've helped this year thanks to your support!
There's a sample below of the style. Calendars are $20 each which includes shipping.
I'm also offering limited edition stuffed animal squirrels made from salvaged would sweaters. These will be made to order so if you don't order this month, you'll have to wait until next year!! No two will be alike but you may request a general color scheme. These will be $25 each including shipping. As always, if you'd rather support thought the Amazon wishlist that's here

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/381N8GTAQESE?ref_=list_d_wl_ys_list_1

Or you can make a direct donation through Venmo to

As always, we appreciate you and your support more than we can really express in a Facebook post. 💗🐿️

11/29/2024

Good morning Bruiser's Buddies! In the interest of taking advantage of the sales today and likely throughout the weekend, I have updated our Amazon wishlist with things we'll need for Juniper's ongoing care, as well as some items I'm hoping to get ahead on for next year. Baby season will be here again before we know it!!
We're also VERY excited to announce that we're going to make a 2025 CALENDAR!! Every image will be of an animal we've been able to help with your support. I do need to pre-order the calendars, so if you'd like one, please message me with your email address so that I can invoice you! If like to get the order in by 12/12. Calendars are the style shown, and measure 8x11". They'll be $20 each with local delivery in the Rochester area, and $25 if you need it shipped. 100% of the proceeds from these orders will go to caring for the animals we take in here.

Next week I'll be posting many items for sale, both handmade and things donated for sale, so stay tuned! We know it's a tough year, and we cannot express enough how much every single donation and purchase means to us. Thank you all for your continued support 💗🐿️

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/381N8GTAQESE?ref_=list_d_wl_ys_list_1

Venmo

Thank you again for helping her, you saved her suffering and that is so, so valuable.

11/28/2024

A big Bruiser's Buddies THANK YOU today, to all of our lovely followers and supporters! This year, I raised and released 28 squirrels. Without your generous donations on Venmo and purchases from our Amazon wishlist, that number would be much, much lower. Raising and rehabbing that many squirrels would be far too expensive to do out of my own pocket. So thank you all. I'm also thankful for our volunteer transporters and friends who are willing to meet for wild goose chases to help me catch injured animals. I'd be remiss not to express thanks for my incredibly understanding husband, who not only supports this, but actively helps, and for my two "Bobs", my boys, who help me so much, I'm so proud of them.
I'm thankful for Juni, for being able to know her. I have begun the process of registering her as an education ambassador, so sometime next year I'll be able to schedule programs and spread the word about squirrels far and wide. Thank you all again, so much. I love this work, and I'm grateful every day to be able to do it.

11/20/2024

A good reminder from For Fox Sake Wildlife Rescue

https://www.facebook.com/share/1FAF3ftfwa/

11/16/2024

Juni is giving this chestnut the wood chipper treatment. Had a great talk with the USDA rep yesterday at the wildlife rehabilitator's conference about the first steps for doing the paperwork to register her as an education embassador! The process takes a bit of time, there's paperwork for the USDA and for the state, but we're on our way. I'm working on training her to come when I call her name and to get in her "pocket" on command, which is trickier but we're getting there. You can also see her back foot moving here! We've stopped the steroids after a plateau was reached. She regained about 30% use of her legs and we work on strengthening that too. She can pull her feet up under and behind her but can't yet use them to push off of anything. She's figuring out how to stay upright to eat and clean. There are some things she can't do that I didn't anticipate, like scratching her own ears and armpits. But I'm hoping that we can get her to where she can at least a little.

11/10/2024

Release day for Tornado and Mabel!! This is what makes all the hard work worth it 💗🐿️

11/01/2024

The other day I got a message about a squirrel that had been caught in a mouse trap. It turned out to be a flying squirrel that was getting into someone's kitchen. Unfortunately, the trap broke his leg, causing a compound fracture. I brainstormed with other rehabbers and had a couple of ideas but when I went to try to reduce the fracture and splint the leg, the little guy already passed. I was able to examine the left further at that point and it would not have been salvageable, so then we'd be looking at euthanasia or amputation. He was so velvety soft and I'd never held one before, I couldn't believe how much extra loose skin he actually had! His tail was like the thickest softest chenille. The finders have taken a havaheart trap to catch the rest of the colony, and we'll keep them over the winter then release them in the spring in an area with another colony. Apologies for the photos of him after he went, he was too beautiful not to share 💗🐿️💔🐿️

10/29/2024

Juniper cuteness! The tiniest alarm call I've ever heard. 💗🐿️