“We knew we would need to act quickly …”
As an animal lover, Linda McLeod-Connelly does everything she can to help the wildlife around her Pennsylvania home get through the long, cold winter.
“We put out peanuts, walnuts and almonds, along with fresh vegetables and fruit,” Linda told The Dodo.
Birds and squirrels regularly gather in her yard for food. But last December, one small squirrel stood out from the rest.
“We noticed a smaller squirrel had something different about his face,” Linda said.
When she looked closer, she realized his teeth were severely overgrown — extending from his lower jaw and pressing up against his upper lip. In that condition, eating normally would have been nearly impossible.
Linda named him Toothy and made it her mission to help.
At first, she offered him hard nuts, hoping chewing would naturally wear his teeth down. When that didn’t work, she switched to smaller, softer foods to make sure he could still eat.
But by February, Toothy’s condition had only worsened.
Concerned that he might eventually starve or develop an infection, Linda reached out to Acorn Acres Wildlife Rehabilitation for guidance.
“We knew we needed to act quickly,” she said.
She set up a humane trap baited with peanuts — and four days later, Toothy finally went inside.
Linda brought him straight to the wildlife rehab center, where rescuers could fully assess him.
“When he arrived, you could really see how overgrown his teeth were,” rescuer Betsy Shank said.
Thankfully, the solution was immediate.
“We were able to trim them right away, and the difference was incredible,” Betsy shared. “You could literally see the relief in his little face.”
Now, Toothy is recovering under observation to make sure his teeth grow properly moving forward.
For Linda, seeing him healthy again made everything worthwhile.
“After worrying about him all winter — wondering if he might starve or get an infection — it was such a beautiful moment to see him looking like a normal, healthy squirrel,” she said.
With any luck, Toothy will soon return to Linda’s yard, where he can live comfortably and safely.
And all of it happened because one person chose to care.
“In a world with so much negativity,” Linda said, “this is my small way of bringing compassion into it. It might seem like a small thing, but in my backyard, it means everything.”