........smart little dog! ;-D
Posted on 09/08/2007 8:53:40 AM PDT by DancesWithCats
Motherless Squirrels' Nest Found On Downed Tree Limb
LAKE CITY, Fla. -- At first glance, the scene appears normal: a Chihuahua mother appearing to cuddle with her pups as they nurse.
A closer look at the days-old babies reveals they aren't canines, but four tiny squirrels, reported WJXT-TV in Jacksonville.
A Columbia County family said its dog's maternal instinct kicked in when 10-year-old Mimi laid eyes on the baby squirrels.
Mimi took the motherless squirrels in as if they were her own, making for one mix-and-match family.
Their eyes are still closed, but their tails are a dead giveaway that Mimi's babies are squirrels -- three females and one male.
Derek Varnes, who works for a tree-cutting company, said he found the squirrels' nest last week on a downed limb.
"I didn't know what to think. They looked like rats at first," Varnes said. "I wasn't going to leave them. They say after they're out of the nest or the tree, the momma won't mess with them anymore. I wasn't going to let them die."
He gave the squirrels to his fiancee's mother, Jeanette Young.
"My 10-year-old Chihuahua would come and watch me and start whining and carrying on," Young said. "I thought she was going to eat them.
She said that when she eventually put the squirrels down, Mimi started licking them to clean them and then began nursing them.
Young said although Mimi's last litter was born four years ago, the dog is still able to make enough milk to keep the baby squirrels full. Mimi doesn't venture far from her new little ones.
"She don't like for me to touch them either," Young said.
She credited maternal instinct for Mimi's behavior and said the dog is a better mom this time around than with her own ...
(Excerpt) Read more at local6.com ...
Ping!
Awwwwww. I just emailed the link to two people. :)
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/offbeat/2007/09/08/chihuahua.adopts.squirrels.wjxt
Little bit more information on the video here of them ...
Hrm....
........smart little dog! ;-D
we fall out of nest ... go BOOM!
The dog is just tending its herd.
My girlfriend who rescues squirrells calls the babies, squiggles. She has babies of some sort all year around; possums, squirrells, raccoons, and kittens.
Precursor to the Borg?
Bless your friend for being so kind and generous! It’s a difficult task.
Oh how fun! And then she releases them when they’ve grown enough? We used to have baby squirrels falling into our basement every spring because mom kept insisting on building the nest in our chimney. We had to chase them around down there and scoop ‘em up and get the ladder out and plunk ‘em back home again. Every year. LOL
Yep, she releases them. She is very careful to avoid domesticating any of them. Over the years she has only kept one near her house; a female squirrell that had one leg and most of her tail gone.
... ah! The old ‘I fell into the MixMaster’ gambit. Works every time for free lunch.
Seriously, good for her! I don’t understand why the world has to have such Blue Meanies in it but the angels that grace our lives, such as this, give us all hope.
I used to date a girl whose mom found some squirrels behind her pet shop. I am tall and when they started to get around they would scale me as soon as I walked in the house. Not fun with shorts on. :)
Then there was the time one misjudged his jump and landed in a pitcher of tea. Funniest thing I have ever seen.
Too bad you don’t have that on tape! LOL LOL Poor little thing. LOL
LOL! Squirrells don’t mind water, but I don’t know about the tea! If it was sweet tea he might have been really popular with his litter mates.;)
It was sweet tea. The little guy was on a knitted doily on a table and when he jumped it slipped from under him. PLOP!, right in the tea. He looked like a little drowned rat. My girlfriend’s mom cleaned him so he wouldn’t be all sticky. :)
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