Squirrel Girl. Squirrel Guru. Squirrel Whisperer. Jill Horstmann, founder of the St. Pete-based animal rescue Squirrelly AF, goes by many nicknames. But to Porter, the blind opossum cuddled in his carrier under the table where we sit at the local kava bar she manages, she is simply Mom. 

Over the last six years, Horstmann has built up her nonprofit – going from that animal-loving friend you call when you discover abandoned squirrel babies to a full-scale rescue, rehabilitation, and release operation that serves squirrels, opossums, ducks, and the occasional raccoon. Her forte is special-needs cases like Porter, who was discovered in a swimming pool in Gulfport, eyes and brain damaged from the chlorine and whatever trauma may have led him into the pool in the first place.… Read More