Snickers’ Story

Many times well intentioned people find an orphaned wild baby animal and raise it in their homes. More often than not they get attached to the animal and decide to keep it as a pet. Unfortunately, most wildlife are not fed the correct diet and become destructive and dangerous when kept in captive, home environments. That was Snickers the Groundhog’s story.

Snickers came to Wild Baby Rescue Center after the family who had her moved to Arizona. She had eaten the woodwork and destroyed the floors. Snickers had been fed cat chow, instead of the greens, fruit and grains that her species needs to grow healthy and strong. She was enormous. Her teeth were overgrown and so were her nails. She had never had the opportunity to dig and tunnel, play in the fresh air, or munch on tasty dandelions.

The weather was warm so she was put in our outside Groundhog enclosure. She immediately got into our digging box and dug her first tunnel. (A student at Centenary College made this large enclosed box filled with dirt as enrichment for our Groundhogs.)

Snickers was weaned off of cat chow in favor of Romaine lettuce, carrots, corn on the cob, dandelion leaves, strawberries, peanuts and apples.

After two months of rehab and a bit of weight loss, Snickers was released and free to enjoy her wild life.