Animals and humans can share incredible bonds.
More than often, you will witness a strong bond between a dog and its owner, and occasionally, you will find humans bonding with other types of animals. In this example, it is the very touching bond between humans and a squirrel. Wild animals can become close to humans. We witnessed it in the past, hearing heartwarming stories of children bonding with wolves or people bonding with lions.
In the case of Brantley Harrison and her family, the bond happened after she rescued a squirrel that was injured back in 2009. A wildlife rescue group had found the poor little squirrel and brought her to the Harrison family, who helps rehabilitate injured animals on a daily basis. With the injuries that she had, she would have never survived in the wild.
The squirrel was raised alongside three other squirrels and they all lived together outside of the Harrison’s home in an outdoor release cage. Once the squirrel was healed again, they released the little animal into the wild. They were not expecting to ever see that squirrel again.
Eight years later, something magical happens every day.
Bella, the squirrel they had nursed back to health in 2009, has been returning to their house in South Carolina every single day to pay them a visit. The family kept feeding her over the years, and the squirrel always comes back for a snack.
The reason Bella got injured is because an owl attacked her one day, and it almost killed her. If it wasn’t for the Harrison family and the rescue group, Bella would have never survived.
After that, the family has treated Bella as their own pet.
Bella is basically part of the Harrison family, and today, the squirrel comes back to eat her fruits and nuts, a diet she received from the family when they were nursing her back to health. The squirrel stayed inside the family’s home for almost a year, until she was released again in the spring of 2010. They waited until she was fully recovered before releasing her back into nature.
Although they had said their goodbyes, Bella had other plans in mind.
She refused to abandon the family that had cared for her and decided to not go very far into the wild. Fast forward eight years, and the squirrel still visits the family almost every day.
According to Harrison:
“Bella sits right at the front door waiting for someone to notice she has come by for a visit. She has even resorted to jumping over to the dining room window to peer in for someone to see her.”
But this is not the end of it.
After eight years, she came back needing help once again from the Harrisons. Not only was her foot hurt, she was also pregnant! The family decided once again to take her in and helped her heal before releasing her again after a month.
Harrison told the Dodo that “it was truly amazing to watch the baby I raised raise her own babies.”
Animals are incredible, and this story shows how deep a bond can go between a human and a wild animal.
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