Gray squirrel Helen spent four years with a rehabber before moving to the Folsom City Zoo Sanctuary in 2009.

She has cataracts in both eyes, but can see well enough to get along safely in her exhibit; however, she couldn’t survive living in the wild. If you look at the tall, narrow nest boxes in the squirrel exhibit, you’ll notice they are full of “stuff” (paper, wool, etc.) – all provided by zookeepers – allowing the squirrels to construct perfect nests of their own design. In the wild, gray squirrels spend much of their time high up in treetops building good-sized weatherproof nests of leaves and sticks. To see the area’s finest squirrel abodes, you’ll find art in nature when you visit Helen and her friends.