Kind Man Builds Tiny Houses to Keep Backyard Squirrels Safe From Predators

John of Squirrel Boxes explained how his empathy for backyard wildlife led him to build tiny houses to keep neighborhood squirrels safe from predators and the elements.

Squirrels live such a hard life. …I made the decision that I was going to make squirrel boxes. I went out to my garage and built and built and built and built for weeks, and I gave away all the boxes I made by hand. I made probably over a thousand. I just kept building and kept building and kept building. …just wanting to help as many as I could.

He talked about how he equips each of these boxes with a camera so that he can see for himself that the squirrels are safe. There have been a few occasions when John had to step in to save a life.

I’ve went up there and rescued over 30 babies and taken them to wildlife rehabs to give them a chance to live when their mom didn’t return. ….They’re not about, oh, look how cute they are. Of course, that is part of it, but the thing is you’re able to step in, help them with what they can’t ask for, but I try not to humanize with them. You don’t really want to get them familiar with you where you can pet them. They need to know that humans are dangerous.

John also gets countless images of these adorable creatures in their daily lives.

Some of the things that I’ve seen is siblings who play together, snuggle, and hold each other for warmth. You’ll see during the wintertime when it gets to the negatives, like -10°. You’ll see stranger squirrels, squirrels that are not siblings, that are just random squirrels. I’ve had 16 squirrels in a box at one time, just snuggling for warmth, just for survival. These boxes give these animals a place to thrive for generations.