Terms of Service

By accessing or using TreePuppies (the website at treepuppies.com and any related services), you agree to these Terms of Service. If you don't agree, please don't use the site.

These terms are a binding agreement between you and TreePuppies. Hosts have additional obligations covered in our Host Terms. Both documents should be read together if you are or want to be a Host.

TreePuppies is a platform for watching, supporting, and stewarding backyard squirrel communities. The site provides:

• Public live camera feeds and recorded clips from nesting boxes installed at participating Host properties (Phase 1+)
• Profiles of named individual squirrels ("Tree Puppies")
• An interactive map and directory of active Scurries
• Educational content (care guides, rescue resources)
• A platform for donations to TreePuppies and partner nonprofits (Phase 1+)
• A directory of licensed wildlife rehabilitators and partners (Phase 2+)
• Tools for Hosts to manage their Scurry, run fundraising campaigns, and book installation and maintenance services

The site is in active development. Features come and go as the project matures. We'll do our best to give meaningful notice of significant changes.

You can browse most of TreePuppies without an account. An account is required to apply as a Host, manage donor subscriptions, or access certain donor-tier features.

To create an account:

• You must be at least 13 years old.
• You must provide accurate information and keep it current.
• You are responsible for keeping your credentials confidential and for all activity under your account.
• You may only have one account per person, except where you maintain both a personal account and an organizational account on behalf of a partner organization.

If you suspect unauthorized use of your account, please email us at hello@treepuppies.com immediately.

You agree not to use TreePuppies to:

• Harass, threaten, defame, or impersonate other users, Hosts, partners, or staff
• Attempt to identify a Host's home address or otherwise circumvent the location-privacy measures we put in place
• Capture, save, redistribute, or repurpose camera footage or motion clips outside of the personal viewing contemplated by the site
• Submit fraudulent donations, chargebacks, or attempt to recover funds outside the normal refund process
• Use the site for any commercial purpose without our written permission, including scraping content, training machine-learning models, or syndicating Scurry data
• Interfere with the site's operation — denial-of-service attacks, malware uploads, attempts to bypass authentication or authorization controls
• Use the site for illegal activity or to harm wildlife in any way
• Submit false or misleading information in a Host application, donor profile, or other public content

We reserve the right to investigate suspected violations and take appropriate action, including warning, suspending, or terminating accounts.

You may submit content to the site — Scurry descriptions, squirrel profiles and photos, fundraising-campaign descriptions, comments (where applicable), and similar contributions. We call this "User Content."

You retain ownership of your User Content. By submitting it, you grant TreePuppies a worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive license to host, display, reproduce, adapt, and distribute that content for the purpose of operating and promoting the platform — including showing it to visitors, sharing it on social media to highlight the project, and including it in our fundraising materials.

You promise that your User Content does not violate anyone else's rights. Specifically:

• You own it or have permission to share it
• It doesn't infringe copyright, trademark, or other IP rights
• It doesn't violate the privacy of others (don't post photos of people, license plates, or address signage that could identify a neighbor)
• It isn't defamatory, harassing, or otherwise prohibited by these terms

We may remove User Content that violates these terms or that we determine, in our reasonable judgment, doesn't fit the site's mission. We try to give Hosts and contributors a chance to revise before removal where time allows.

The TreePuppies site, including its design, code, text content (care guides, mission writing, etc.), the words "TreePuppies," "Scurry," "Drey," and "Tree Puppy" as we use them, the brand identity, and related trademarks (whether registered or unregistered) are the property of TreePuppies. We grant you a personal, non-transferable license to view and interact with the site for its intended purpose.

You may share links to the site freely, embed our public content where the embed function is provided, and reference TreePuppies in journalistic or educational contexts. You may not republish our original content (including care guides) in full without permission.

Donations through TreePuppies are voluntary contributions. Recurring donor subscriptions can be canceled at any time from your donor dashboard, and one-time donations can be refunded within 14 days of payment for any reason.

Once the TreePuppies 501(c)(3) is formed and recognized by the IRS, donations made to the 501(c)(3) will be tax-deductible to the extent allowed by US law. Until that recognition is in place, donations are not tax-deductible. We will clearly state the status of any donation path at the point of giving.

Pass-through donations to partner nonprofits are forwarded to the named partner less any unavoidable processing fees. We do not retain a percentage of pass-through donations for our own operations.

The site relies on third-party services to function — authentication, email, payments, mapping, hosting. Those services have their own terms and privacy policies, which apply to your use of them through our site. The full list is in our Privacy Policy.

We are not responsible for the actions, content, or performance of third-party services. If a third-party service experiences an outage or data incident, we will work to communicate the impact to affected users.

You can close your account at any time by emailing us at hello@treepuppies.com. We will delete your account data per our Privacy Policy, retaining only what we are legally required to keep.

We may suspend or terminate your account if you violate these terms, create risk for the platform or other users, or fail to fulfill an accepted Host obligation. Where reasonable, we'll give you notice and a chance to cure first.

Termination doesn't extinguish obligations that by their nature should survive — for example, indemnification for prior actions, or our continued ownership of our intellectual property.

The site is provided "as is" and "as available." We don't guarantee that camera feeds will be live at any particular moment, that the site will be free of bugs or errors, or that all features will be continuously available. We do try our best.

Care guides, rescue resources, and similar content are provided for general informational purposes. They are not a substitute for professional veterinary care, licensed wildlife rehabilitation, or legal advice in your jurisdiction. If you are facing a wildlife emergency, please contact a licensed wildlife rehabber.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, TreePuppies disclaims all warranties, express or implied, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement.

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, TreePuppies and its operators, contributors, partners, and service providers will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages arising out of or related to your use of the site.

Our total liability to you for any claim arising out of or related to these terms or the site, regardless of the form of the action, is limited to the greater of: (a) the total amount you paid to TreePuppies in the 12 months before the claim, or (b) US$100.

Some jurisdictions don't allow these kinds of limitations, in which case the limits above apply to the maximum extent permitted in your jurisdiction.

You agree to defend and indemnify TreePuppies and its operators, partners, and service providers from any claim, loss, or expense (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of: (a) your violation of these terms, (b) your User Content, or (c) your misuse of the site, to the extent caused by your conduct.

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Florida, USA, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. The federal and state courts located in Pinellas County, Florida, will have exclusive jurisdiction over any disputes that aren't resolved through good-faith discussion.

Before filing a lawsuit, please email us at hello@treepuppies.com and give us 30 days to resolve the issue informally. We'd much rather solve a problem with a conversation than a complaint.

Nothing in this section limits your ability to bring an individual small-claims action where applicable, or to pursue rights you have under your local consumer-protection laws that cannot be waived.

We may update these terms as the platform evolves. We'll post the updated terms on this page and update the "Last updated" date. Material changes will be announced by email to account holders at least 14 days before taking effect, giving you time to review and, if you disagree, close your account.

Continued use of the site after the effective date of an update constitutes acceptance of the updated terms.

Questions, complaints, or feedback about these terms? Email us:

hello@treepuppies.com