ARLINGTON – Bundled in a blanket, sipping warm milk from a syringe, Lola is one lucky squirrel.

A woman spotted the tiny, day-old creature under a tree after she fell from her nest in Fort Worth. A call to a wildlife hotline landed the squirrel in the Arlington home of Belen Nobert, a licensed animal rehabilitator.

"That's a good girl," Ms. Nobert whispers as she feeds the squirrel she named Lola, which has grown to the size of a dill pickle over the last three weeks as her weight has tripled to nearly 50 grams.

Lola's adventure is part of a Texas rite of spring as common as bluebonnets: wild critters popping up on city streets and suburban back yards.

Warmer weather, ample food supplies and the spring birthing season send wild animals stirring through ever-developing areas, where they cross paths with people and pets.

Wildlife experts who mediate these encounters say their jobs often focus more on soothing human anxiety than managing the animals.

Last fall, when coyotes were spotted in a northern Plano neighborhood, officials at a nearby elementary school and middle school kept students inside for recess and PE classes. Sympathizers left out food for the coyotes, while neighbors buzzed about a vigilante roaming the area with a crossbow.

A contract wildlife specialist later trapped the dominant male coyote and released it in rural Collin County. The episode spurred city officials to organize a community wildlife forum at the middle school.

Clark Adams, a wildlife and fisheries sciences professor at Texas A&M University, said managing wildlife in crowded areas is difficult because animals evoke emotional reactions from everyone involved.

"The traditional wildlife management strategies just don't work in urban communities," Dr. Adams said. "The reason they don't is, you're dealing with people.

"Our wildlife biologists aren't equipped to deal with the multitude of stakeholders that are part of the mix in an urban wildlife management problem."

Cities and suburbs are inviting locales for critters such as coyotes, raccoons, skunks, beavers, squirrels and opossums, Dr. Adams said.

"Animals go where they can find food, water or shelter," he said. "They can get it in abundance in urban areas."

When wild animals are hurt or orphaned by weather, predators or people, they often wind up in the care of rehabilitators like Ms. Nobert.

She also volunteers for a seven-day hotline run by the DFW Wildlife Coalition, coaching startled callers who stumble upon wayward animals like baby rabbits and injured birds. Calls to the hotline (972-234-9453) have swelled from several hundred in 2004 to roughly 9,000 expected this year.

"Our phones are ringing off the wall right now," said Prudence Koeninger, the coalition's president.

In many cases, hotline volunteers advise leaving seemingly abandoned babies alone, since mom is likely lurking somewhere nearby.

The hotline discourages trapping animals. In cases where squirrels or raccoons invade an attic or burrow under a deck, volunteers emphasize gentle eviction techniques such as introducing smells and sounds designed to shoo away the creatures.

Some cities, however, allow residents to borrow live animal traps. And in many cases, cities hire private trappers to remove problem animals, which are later released or euthanized, depending on the trapper.

Robert Stalbaum, a state and federal wildlife biologist, rounds up animals all over North Texas. His main charge is removing creatures that cause damage to human interests – beavers that dam up drainage culverts, feral pigs that tear up front yards and coyotes that kill pets.

Mr. Stalbaum said many unwanted animal encounters can be avoided by taking simple precautions such as tying down trash can lids and keeping pet food inside.

"A lot of times, if you change your habits just slightly, we'll keep a lot of those animals from coming in and causing problems," Mr. Stalbaum said.