One red squirrel

We have been in Russia for 5 months. We have walked to the office daily, passing wooded areas, driven past many miles of woods and meadows, visited beautiful parks and walked for miles amongst the beautiful wooded and grassy areas. In all that time, we have seen one young red squirrel. We see many stray dogs, lots of birds and a few cats. BUT NO OTHER ANiMALS. What's with that?