What would you do if you found a newborn squirrel on the middle of the sidewalk?
Would you stop and help? Or would you continue walking?
For Jessica Adams, it was a no-brainer.
“He was cold & naked with a face only a mom could love,” Jessica wrote.
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His mother was nowhere to be found so Jessica, the animal lover that she is, took him home.
He was only 1.3 ounces when she picked him up so it was going to be a lot of work to help nurse him back to good health.
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And Jessica was up for it.
“I did not think he would survive, I just wanted him warm and cozy. Little did I know the adventure we were beginning,” Jessica wrote on Instagram.
She suspected he either fell from his nest or a predator pulled him from his nest. And when she noticed he was missing half his tail, she knew a predator did this.
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“At the time we were not 100% sure he was a squirrel. My kids were excited to see such a tiny creature, and my husband just thought I was nuts (pun intended) but he knows I am an animal lover and that I wouldn’t give up on him,” Jessica shared.
Jessica and her family didn’t have high hopes that he’ll survive the first night.
They had no idea the extent of his injuries but that didn’t stop them from taking care of the little guy. She fed him milk through a pipette every three hours and just made sure he was comfortable.
They were shocked when he survived the first night and the next few nights after that.
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Jessica realized if he was going to fight, she was going to fight with him, too.
“I tried really hard to give him the best, I had a timer set on my watch for feedings every two hours, even at night. I tried to contact a wild animal rescue, but they were overbooked, and the vet would have put him to sleep if I left him. So I had no choice but to try to save him myself,” Jessica said.
And, during the day, Jessica would put him in a shoebox so she could take him to the office.
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The whole family chipped in to take care of the squirrel, including Jessica’s children. They’ve since named him Steve.
After a month, Steve had grown his fur and doubled his weight. Amazing!
All that nurturing really worked wonders for Steve. And for Jessica, too.
“He needed me, he would have died without help. Little did I know how much I needed him too or how much I would adore him,” Jessica admitted. “Most rewarding was the experience, he loved me and I loved him, the overwhelming pride of seeing him grow and thrive. It also was quite humbling, that little guy needed me to survive and I never expected to love him as I do.”
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As Steve grew stronger, Jessica and her family decided to slowly get him used to the outside.
Little by little, they helped him get used to the sounds outside. They helped him climb trees. And they really just helped Steve get used to being outside and living the squirrel life.
And they did a great job raising him to love the outside world because one day, he just disappeared. It broke Jessica’s heart but she knew she had to let him go.
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Until he came back one day to look for food.
And Jessica was happy to find out that Steve was doing fine on his own. In fact, he was doing so fine that he got himself a girlfriend. Jessica and her children named her Jolene.
“I think he’s happy, he has a family. He will still look at me with curiosity like he remembers but won’t climb on me, a healthy fear of humans is good and it keeps him safe. Not everyone is as kind. He visits often, he also is pretty easy for me to spot since he’s missing about half of his tail,” Jessica said.
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Jessica and her family now feed the neighborhood squirrels.
And when she was asked if she’d do it again if she found another “Steve.” She said she would do it again and again.
“Every creature deserves a chance to live, great or small. If I would have left him to die I would have missed out on a great adventure and experience,” Jessica shared.
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Would you like to see how they took care of Steve during the first night? Watch the video below.
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
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