Some people will go above and beyond to help out those in need, even if they don’t have much for themselves at all.
Recently, Tabitha Aldrich from Colombia saw something tragic happen on the road: a car was just about to hit a poor little squirrel.
Tabitha, who has been living on the streets for eight years, didn’t hesitate for a second to help out this frightened and injured animal.
First of all, Tabita took the injured squirrel and brought it to a safer place, to see if he was badly hurt.
Things didn’t really look good for the squirrel, who she named Rocky.
Tabitha took the squirrel downtown to Memorial Park and took care of the precious animal for a little while over there.
While Tabitha was looking after Rocky, she knew that he’d probably need some food for energy to get better again, so she shared the only food she had with her for the day.
Even though she’d go hungry, she knew in her heart that she couldn’t let something happen to Rocky.
At one point, it looked like the squirrel was doing well enough to be released on its own, but the squirrel kept on following Tabitha and some of her friends, who were also homeless.
âWe tried to release him here at Memorial Park but he just kept on following us,â the woman said to WSET News.
Using her phone, she contacted a nearby animal rescue organization that specifically focuses on the care of squirrels: Squirreltopia Wildlife Rescue.
Tabitha managed to get in touch with Laura Ross of the animal organization, who immediately rushed towards the scene.
Laura couldn’t praise the homeless woman and her friends enough. In fact, she believes it’s because they shared their food that Rocky actually made it.
âThey shared bits of their honey bun with him to keep him alive in between the sugar and the carbs it was enough to keep him up until I could get there,â Laura Ross of Squirreltopia mentioned. âThere were 1,000 other things they couldâve been doing. One-thousand other things that we imagine homeless people do but they werenât. They were saving a little squirrel.â
The wild animal was still very young, and he was asking for help when he kept following Tabitha.
It’s not unusual for baby animals who are starving. Luckily, she had the right instinct to call for help.
âWhen they need help they will come up to people,â Laura added. âWild baby animals are naturally afraid of us and do not try to come up to us unless something is wrong. So if they are walking up to us they are starving to death.â
At one point, Tabitha considered looking after the squirrel permanently, but she knew that she just didn’t have the resources to take care of Rocky.
âI was heartbroken that we couldnât keep him,â Tabitha said. âBut It makes me feel good that I was able to help Rocky out.â
At Squirreltopia, Rocky made a full and fast recovery.
Apparently, Rocky has now even shown his energetic and playful side and has been growing as expected. Everyone at Squirreltopia and Laura, in particular, couldn’t be more thankful for this homeless woman and her friends.
âThey couldâve done a lot of things. They couldâve tried to make me buy the squirrel, but they didnât,â she said. âThey even checked back the next day to make sure he was OK, and check on him. I think that is phenomenal.â
As a thank you and a way of paying it forward, Laura actually created a GoFundMe account to raise some money for Tabitha.
“Tabitha and Cory, a homeless couple in Columbia, SC, happened upon an orphaned baby squirrel. They took the time to care for him, look for help, keep him safe, and gave bits of the small amount of food they had to him to help keep him alive until they could find help. They didn’t ask for anything in return, they simply helped the baby out of the kindness of their hearts, and have continued to check on his progress the best they can. Let’s see if we can find it in our hearts to help them in return!”
When he’s fully grown up, Rocky will be able to be released back into the wild.
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