Earlier this week, Vickie Vallet-McWilliams was doing yard work at home in Texas when she heard an animal in distress. And that's when she saw it — a tiny baby squirrel at the base of a tree, too small to be out wandering all alone.
“The little squirrel
was squealing. She was just an itty-bitty thing,” Vallet-McWilliams told The Dodo. “We scooped her up as quickly as we could before our dogs got there and put her in a box.”
Uncertain of what to do next, Vallet-McWilliams reached out to her friend Bobbie, who runs Forgotten Pet & Wildlife Rescue. The nonprofit, based in Dickinson, Texas, takes in both domestic animals and wildlife in need of lifesaving help.
Bobbie said she could come by to pick up the baby squirrel, but suggested Vallet-McWilliams try something else beforehand. Assuming the baby had fallen from her nest, Bobbie suggested placing the box at the base of the tree where she’d been found to see if her mother might return for her.
And sure enough, this is what happened next:
Within minutes of spotting the mysterious box near her tree, the baby squirrel’s mother found her inside. She scooped up her baby and carried her home — ending what was, no doubt, a heartbreaking ordeal for the worried parent.
“It was the most amazing thing to see,” Vallet-McWilliams said. “It was very heartwarming to see this mama come down and get that baby and take her back to the tree.”
Bobbie’s advice had given the squirrel’s mother a chance to find her baby. For Vallet-McWilliams, it led to the best possible outcome.
“That was a win-win for everybody,” she said. “Mama got her baby back.”
