A baby squirrel was caught in a thunderstorm last August and was blown far from her mom’s nest. She ended up on the property of Tyler Gregory in Kansas.
Luckily, Gregory had a heart out for helping animals. He took the squirrel inside his home to warm up, afraid that the squirrel would not make it through the night.
“She was so tiny that her eyes weren’t even open yet,” Gregory has told The Dodo. “We started bottle-feeding her with formula and hoping for the best.”
Gregory and his girlfriend took turns and woke up every three hours to check on the squirrel and feed it with the formula.
They later on named the squirrel “Annie,” who they kept in a small cage with a heating pad to keep her cozy.
As soon as Annie’s eyes opened, she went all around the house, excited to see everything. Her dad Gregory was so happy and even took her out for trips, wherein she could crawl on the grass and climb up tress.
Soon, the squirrel was brave enough to fly from tree stumps to tree stumps and fence posts to fence posts. Annie managed to go outside on her own without Gregory’s supervision.
“We were nervous, but it needed to be done,” Gregory said. “I couldn’t stand seeing her in the cage anymore and she was starting to get wild rather than be a sweet little baby.”
However, she always comes back every day to visit her dad and ask for some belly rubs.
“She was always very attached to us growing up,” Gregory said. “She would enjoy running around the house or running outside, but would always come right to us. Whenever folks come over, I would have her say hello as she sat on my shoulder.”
“It warms my heart to know that she roams around but still enjoys home,” he added.