This story begins in October 2016 in South Africa. In the backyard of her friend's house Simon Serfontein found a tiny squirrel no more than a week old. Baby squirrel was crying and apparently was looking for its mom. But mom didn’t show up, most likely becouse of fear of people.
Simone had to take on the responsibilities of taking care of Digentji (that's how she named her new pet). At that moment she doubted that the baby squirrel could survive without its mother. But she didn’t dare to leave the little squirrel on the street either.
Simone and her boyfriend Christoph knew nothing about caring for newborn squirrels. Therefore, they turned to specialists for advice. As a result, Simona made a cozy nest for her pet out of a shoe box. And to observe Digentji’s feeding regime she had to get up several times a night. For a while, Simona even went to work with her.
"I never thought that growing a squirrel could be so difficult," admits Simona.
The squirrel ate and slept a lot, so she quickly recovered and gained strength. Digentji’ soon swiched from milk to regular squirrel’s food. When she grew up, she began to show more caution towards. The only person Digentzhi trusted implicitly was her "adoptive mother".
Simona knew it was only a matter of time before she had to set the squirrel free. After all, the squirrel was and remains a wild animal, created for life in nature. Together with Kristof, they took the squirrel out into the yard and released it on the grass. Digentzhi quickly found its way around and climbed the tree.
"It was quite amazing and sad at the same time," concluded Simone.
It seemed that this was the end of the story. But at night Digentzhi returned home like it was nothing. The same thing happened in the following several days. Eventually, Simona and Christoph then started leaving the window open for her, so Digentzhi could come and go any time she wanted.
A year and a half later, Digentzhi became pregnant and on April 24, 2018 little Misty was born. Digentzhi allowed Simone to touch Misty and even hold her in her arms. This is a sign of the greatest trust that animals can have.
«To be honest, it's the most incredible thing I've ever experienced," says Simona. Now Simona is already married herself, and Dygentzha and Misty have their own "Instagram", where you can watch these unusual squirrels.
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