A Kind Woman Always Feeds A Little Hungry Squirrel — One Day The Squirrel Returns To Show His Gratitude
It's a new level of cuteness overload.
Jarry / Shutterstock It’s not uncommon for people to leave food out for animals who need it. However, it is rare to see that thoughtfulness reciprocated. This became the reality for one open-hearted woman and her new furry friend.
A woman’s kindness was rewarded by a sweet gesture from a squirrel.
In a recent TikTok video, a woman was returning home, presumably from shopping due to the large bags she was carrying. According to the video, “This woman always feeds this squirrel.”
As the woman walked up the steps to her front door, she noticed a cookie on the windowsill next to it. She picked it up and looked at it in confusion, unsure where such a gift came from. Her doorbell camera held the answer.
It showed the squirrel the woman had been feeding climbing up her staircase railing and jumping onto the windowsill, all with the cookie held in its mouth. Once it reached the edge of the windowsill closest to the front door, it dropped the cookie off, then seemed to briefly admire the gift before leaving the same way it came.
Photo: Darren Leach from Getty Images / Canva Pro
The video has quickly gone viral on TikTok, reaching almost 2 million likes. Commenters could barely contain their joy over the sweet and surprising gesture from the squirrel.
“Why is a squirrel kinder than everyone I meet?” one asked. Another person said, “I’m literally crying over a sweet squirrel.” One person perhaps summed it up best when they wrote, “This is how I know we are all one.”
This squirrel left a lasting impression on the woman and viewers of the video alike. Few people could imagine a squirrel capable of such kindness. However, research shows that it is possible.
Animals, squirrels included, can be kind and empathetic.
Although we may not often think of squirrels as having emotions similar to humans, research has proved otherwise. According to the University of West Alabama, “Scientific research backs the idea of emotions in animals. In fact, researchers have observed empathy in them, as well as grief, fear, and other complex emotions often associated primarily with humans.”
This squirrel showed a great deal of empathy when it brought a cookie to a woman who gave it food to show her gratitude.
Research from the University of California Davis took this concept a step further. The study they performed was “the first to document personality in golden-mantled ground squirrels, which are common across the western U.S. and parts of Canada.” Furthermore, “the study… found the squirrels show personality for four main traits: boldness, aggressiveness, activity level, and sociability.”
It can be argued from this video that the squirrel was demonstrating sociability, as it interacted with and did something thoughtful for a human.
Clearly, from these studies, it can be concluded that animals feel a much wider range of emotions than most people think. However, it hardly seems necessary to point to such research when videos like this one exist.
While it is incredible and unusual to see a squirrel acting in such a way, maybe there is a deeper meaning to be found here. A small squirrel with nothing found a way to express gratitude and return an act of kindness and made someone’s day in the process.
That’s a lesson that we can all learn from.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer for YourTango who covers entertainment, news, and human interest topics.