When baby animals are in trouble, it’s hard to know what to do. Depending on the circumstances, it’s often best to leave them alone and let their own kind tend to them.
In fact, people often misinterpret the needs of these animals and disrupt their development, mistakenly thinking they need help or that they’ve been abandoned. In recent years, it’s become such a problem that advocacy groups have had to warn animal lovers not to disturb nests.
But when you see a bunch of baby squirrels come flying out of a tree, you know something is surely wrong.
That’s what happened to one woman who recorded the accident and its aftermath in 2016 and told her story to The Dodo a few years later.
She heard some squeals and a thud and came out to find a nest on the ground and newborn squirrels sprawled all over the sidewalk.
As beautiful as nature is, it isn’t often kind. Birds were squawking nearby, perhaps wondering if the babies would be easy prey. So the woman waited with them to see what would happen.
“The don’t look OK but they are,” she reassures viewers.
The babies simply continued their nap on the ground (they’re too young to do anything else).
In fact, in the first scenes we see, it looks like a very gruesome outcome, but they’re simply waiting for their turn to be rescued and they’re so young their eyes aren’t even open yet.
But mom is on the way!
The woman does nudge one of the babies, presumably to reassure it, which isn’t always the best idea.
Mom is nearby and should be allowed to take care of her little ones without interference.
As the woman moves the remaining babies closer together, hoping to make it easier for their mom to find and gather them all up, it’s hard not to hold your breath and hope that the scent from human hands won’t make the squirrel abandon her newborns.
But according to the Santa Cruz rescue organization Native Animal Rescue, human hands won’t deter a mother tree squirrel.
At this point, it’s unclear where mama squirrel has gone to stash the babies she’s rescued, but the woman making the video decides to put the babies in their damaged nest and put it closer to the tree.
And that’s precisely what the animal rescue organizations recommend (if you choose to get involved at all).
And at last, we spot the mother squirrel!
She’s taken some of her babies back up and has come back for the rest. She heads straight for the nest and fetches one of her little ones.
It’s a sweet scene as our camerawoman backs up so that mom is not too intimidated to come and get her last two babies.
It’s hard not to feel bad for the mother squirrels since her nest has been destroyed, but the woman nearby is hoping she can give at least part of it back so the babies have a safe place to rest in their tree.
As birds squawk in the background, the squirrel decides another tree will be safer and takes her little ones elsewhere.
Alas, it appears she didn’t come back for her nest.
But she’s no doubt going to spend the next few hours laying the groundwork for making a new one.
To see the story of the babies being rescued, scroll down below – or click here to see the original footage viewed over 1.8 million times.
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
