Last month, Sheila Mattie was surprised when her friend called and told her he had found two orphaned, baby squirrels.
Upon hearing the story, Sheila’s maternal instincts immediately kicked in. One of the squirrels had been injured and was suffering from a broken paw. To give him the attention he required, Sheila’s friend Kristen decided to take care of the other sibling.
Sheila named the injured squirrel Crash Bandipoop, after the popular video game character, and began working long hours to rehabilitate the baby back to health.
As Sheila cared for Crash, the two developed a strong bond. In fact, Crash grew so attached to Sheila that he’d barely let her out of his sight. In the video description, she wrote: “No matter where he adventured off to in my care, he would never be more than five feet away from me.”
“He always had to know where I was, and if I wasn’t around, he freaked out!”
Crash was a sociable, little squirrel. On top of spending time with Sheila, he also enjoyed playing with her 5-year-old daughter and Great Pyrenees, Diesel.
“He even jumped on Diesel’s face once and, of course, I raised a good dog, so he let Crash jump on him like a jungle gym.”
When Crash wasn’t busy socializing with the family, you could often find him sleeping in Sheila’s bra. “His favorite spot to sleep was in my bra,” she said. “To be honest, he even came to work with me the whole time I had him. Nobody knew I had a baby squirrel sleeping soundly in my bosom!”
With Sheila’s devoted care, Crash eventually grew big and strong. Soon, it was time for him to be released back into the wild.
Crash had grown big enough that he was “jumping around like a psycho,” Sheila recalled. “So I knew it was time to release him. I couldn’t think to just let him go anywhere, so I let him go in my backyard.”
After releasing Crash, Sheila didn’t see him for a whole week. The woman tried not to worry, but she feared he had faced the worst.
Maybe Crash had been too domesticated to make it in the wild. Maybe he’d run into an untimely fate. Sheila didn’t want to upset herself by thinking about it, and she tried to carry on with her life. A few days later, after having a horrible day, she spotted something amazing in her backyard porch.
Crash hadn’t forgotten about her, after all— and he had come back to thank her for all that she’d done.
“He jumped right on me, no problem and has come back every single day since.”
“He loves his mama! And I have a best friend for life!”
Since being uploaded to YouTube, Sheila’s emotional reunion has been viewed thousands of times.
Viewers are enamored by the two’s relationship, and comments on the video read:
“That’s amazing.”
“Beautiful person you are.”
“This is so beautiful and touching.”
P.S. If you liked reading about Sheila and Crash, you’ll love learning about Gibby— another domesticated squirrel that kept coming back to his mom. You can see his story here.
Watch the emotional video below.
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