Herald Publications - El Segundo, Hawthorne, Lawndale & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 3, No. 38 - September 23, 2021
Inside
This Issue
Certified & Licensed
Professionals.......................7
Classifieds............................2
Entertainment......................2
Hawthorne............................3
Huber’s Hiccups..................3
Lawndale..............................4
Inglewood.............................5
Legals.................................6,7
Pets........................................8
Weekend
Forecast
Friday
Mostly
Sunny
71˚/61˚
Saturday
Mostly
Sunny
71˚/61˚
Sunday
Mostly
Sunny
69˚/60˚
Lawndale Tribune
AND lAwNDAle News
Hawthorne Press Tribune
Featuring the Weekly Newspapers of Hawthorne, Inglewood and Lawndale
Volunteers Come Together In
Celebration of World Clean Up Day
Hollywood Park Staff and NFL Green Volunteers helped beautify the community by planting medians along Hillcrest Blvd. from Florence Ave. to Grevillea Ave. Thank you for serving the Inglewood
Community. Photo courtesy City of Inglewood.
South Bay Local Rescues Squirrels
By Kiersten Vannest
In every park across the city of El Segundo,
residents can enjoy sunny picnics, social
gatherings, and the occasional greeting from
our bushy-tailed neighbors. Squirrels run wild
throughout the city, along with raccoons,
opossums, skunks, and more. One resident
has taken it upon herself to look out for the
rodents’ wellbeing.
Ashley Liberty, whose time in El Segundo
began in 2008, has come to be the city’s
most prominent squirrel rescuer.
Every so often, a squirrel may misstep and
fall out of a tree, or be attacked by crows, or
have the misfortune of being in the road at
the wrong time. When this happens, Liberty
is first in line to help out.
“I have a lot of pets, and people know, I
really, really like animals,” she says. So when
a friend’s cat brought home a baby squirrel
in 2018, Liberty got the call. She picked up
the baby squirrel in a cardboard box, wrapped
in a towel, too young to even open its eyes.
Never having raised a squirrel before, she
set to work to make sure her next moves
were as best for the animal as they could be.
Without time to drive to Van Nuys, where
the next nearest squirrel rescuer is located, or
Long Beach, where injured squirrels go for
rehabilitation, she took to online communities
and forums for information from states where
squirrel ownership is legal and common. She
decided she would raise the baby herself for
eventual release back into the wild.
“It’s illegal to have squirrels as pets in
California,” she explains, going on to say
local police know of her rescues and have
agreed to let her continue because she does
release them when they’re ready.
Thinking the squirrel was a boy, her two
kids named her Oscar. As she got older, they
kept the name, and she became Oscar the Girl
Squirrel. From March to July of that year,
Liberty raised her from being too small to
walk until she was ready to be free.
Raising a squirrel is no easy task. Liberty
describes weeks of constant care, including
night feedings, like a newborn. With Oscar,
she immediately went to her nearest pet store
and got the appropriate formula, along with
baby syringes.
As Oscar began to gain her strength, Liberty
began to see her open her eyes and start to
walk. At this point, she was transferred to a
wire cage with hanging bird toys, branches
Ashley Liberty smiles with one of her squirrel rescues.
from outside, and wooden bridges to start
learning to climb and jump. She moved on
from formula to fruits, veggies, nuts, and
even some flowers. Sometimes, Liberty would
give her free rein of the house, putting a tiny
harness with a bell attached on her to keep
track of her whereabouts.
Finally, when it came time for release,
Liberty placed her cage outside and began the
process of detaching herself and introducing
Oscar to the outside world. Over the course of
about a week, Oscar was gradually separated
from all human contact and allowed to leave
the cage at her own pace.
For a while, Oscar came back to visit,
occasionally appearing at the Libertys’ back
door to say hello or ask for a peanut. Since
Oscar, Liberty has had seven squirrels pass
through her care, either to be released or sent
for professional rehabilitation in the case of
a major injury.
With the help of her two kids, Cohen (8)
and Harper (11), as well as her husband, she See Ashley Liberty, page 4
ensures that squirrels have the best chance at
life after release. For this reason, she does
not mark any of the squirrels for any reason,
citing that squirrels can be very territorial
and will attack squirrels who may appear
or smell different. In addition to no marks
or scents, the family goes through a period
of little contact with the squirrels before
release to discourage them from being too
comfortable with humans.
As far as prepping the animals for wild
behavior, Liberty says that comes naturally.
As her squirrels have grown, they’ve naturally
begun to climb, jump, and hide snacks. In
the case of Oscar, they found peanuts and
food stashed away all over the house in the
weeks before her release, something she
instinctively started to do. In a later visit,
Liberty was able to see that Oscar had even
had babies.
So, what should you do if you find a baby
or injured squirrel? If it’s a baby, and it’s