‘It’s raining squirrels’: Rock Hill rescue tops nearly four dozen squirrels

Spicy Jane is a real nut.

The baby squirrel races around her enclosure, jumping on her adoptive squirrel brother Cyrus, who is a wee bit older. If you open her enclosure, she will jump on you.

The young squirrels are among 45 at the Nutty By Nature Squirrel Rescue based in Rock Hill, S.C. Three women and a host of volunteers rehabilitate squirrels that have fallen from trees, become orphans or have been injured. Once they are old enough, the co-founders release them into the wild when they are roughly five months old. The rescue takes in squirrels mainly in York, Chester and Lancaster counties.

The rescue started after Rhiannon Story, Katherine Rigby and Juli Emmons each raised the squirrels that were either injured or newly born and without their mothers. They started the rescue in May even though they did not yet have any squirrels.

By fall, they almost had more than they could handle.

“It’s exploded,” Story said. “It’s raining squirrels.”

All of the women have worked with other animal rescue groups and wanted to volunteer but realized there weren’t enough squirrel rescues.

“We were getting babies left and right and there was only so much we could do,” Story said. “So we thought if we started a rescue and maybe we’d be able to get community support and we would be able to get volunteers to help.”

The stories of the squirrels in rescue

The women know the stories of how some of the squirrels made it to their doorsteps.

Titus, a baby squirrel, showed up at the hospital in Lancaster, and peered through the window as though he was looking for help, Rigby said.

The baby squirrel had possibly fallen out of its nest from one of the trees beside the Medical University of South Carolina. A Good Samaritan tried to find the mother squirrel in the wooded area beside the hospital, but could not find her.

Tree trimmers found a couple of baby squirrels after they chopped down a branch with the nest in it. A hawk or owl possibly took a baby squirrel’s mother after she went missing.

The co-founders know everything squirrel-related.

They know squirrels need calcium in their diets and that they can be trained to use a litter box. They also know nuts are only to be used as treats, instead of staples in their diets.

“The first thing everybody always wants to do is feed them nuts,” Rigby said. “And nuts to squirrels is like a Snickers to a human, so nuts are like candy bars to them.”

Their diet consists of rodent food high in calcium and a host of fresh vegetables like zucchini, kale, romaine lettuce and others. They also like to nibble on deer antlers that contain calcium and because it helps keep their teeth filed.

Rigby said she follows people on TikTok who raise squirrels and talk about their care. She also follows reputable squirrel websites to learn how to care for them.

Learning how to be a squirrel

Rigby has even started a “squirrel school” where she helps them practice jumping.

“You need them to be really strong jumpers, so that they can jump tree to tree,” she said.

When the squirrels reach about four months old, they will go outside to the pre-release enclosure where they become acclimated to the smells and sounds of the outdoors.

Part of squirrel school is to observe wild squirrels in their habitats.

“They are very smart,” Rigby said. “I know it sounds crazy, but they do watch other squirrels and they learn.”

Once they have been in the pre-release cage for a few weeks, they are released into the wild at 16-20 weeks old. The co-founders and volunteers will release them into their backyards and other properties.

“We are the only ones that truly interact with them once they get bigger,” Story said. “Because you want them to go outside and actually wild-up and not come to people.”

That doesn’t stop them from visiting their former caregivers, who give them nutty treats.

Not all of the squirrels can be rehabilitated.

One such squirrel has Type 2 diabetes. The co-founders realized something was wrong when the squirrel allowed people to pet him and was rapidly gaining weight.

“His name is Chubs for a reason,” Story said. “He’s a thick, healthy boy.”

The women try to find the squirrels’ mothers before taking them in, Story said.

They will put the babies in a box and attach it to a tree and play squirrel sounds on their phones. Many times, the mother will come get them.

The co-founders said they feel like they are doing something important.

“The first time they climb those trees, it’s an indescribable feeling,” said Story, who has been called The Crazy Squirrel Lady. “You can see the job on their faces and that right there lets me know that I did something that was great, even if you know it matters only to one squirrel, it still matters.”

To donate or volunteer, visit nuttybynaturerescue.com.

This story was originally published October 31, 2025 at 8:56 AM with the headline "‘It’s raining squirrels’: Rock Hill rescue tops nearly four dozen squirrels."