Last month, a man in Long Island tried to start his car and was confused to notice it wouldn’t turn on. The car had been sitting unused for a few months, so the man figured something must be wrong. He brought the car to a mechanic friend in hopes of solving the problem.
When the mechanic glanced inside the car, he found an enormous pile of leaves. Getting a closer look, the mechanic was shocked to realize there were six fuzzy babies nestled within.
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It turns out, while the car sat dormant all those weeks, a family of squirrels had been using it as their nest. One by one, the men removed all of the babies from the car. But where was their mom?
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Unsure what to do, the car owner contacted local wildlife rescuer and rehabilitator Karenlynn Stracher. Stracher instructed him to move the babies into the safety of a box. Then, Stracher said, the man should go home and place the box near where the car had been parked.
The man followed the instructions, gingerly placing the babies in a shoebox before putting it in the grass by the curb. Then he waited. Suddenly, there she was — the mother squirrel, racing down from a tree, anxious to grab her babies.
“She ran down instantly,” Stracher told The Dodo. “It was the fastest reunification I have ever seen!”
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The determined mother squirrel grabbed each baby one at a time and brought them back to another nest in a nearby tree. She didn’t stop until every baby was safe.
You can watch the mom rescuing her babies in a video here:
Stracher hopes this rescue story inspires others to watch out for baby animals in need. This mother squirrel’s resilience is a testament to how fiercely mother animals care for their families. Keeping wild babies with their parents is always the happiest ending.
“I wish people understood how badly these moms want their babies back,” Stracher said. “When babies are healthy, every attempt should be made to return them to their mother, because no matter how good us rehabbers are at raising baby squirrels, their mother is always best.”
