Baby animal season is officially here, the time of year when wild babies of all kinds are being born all over. This can create some truly adorable situations — and some confusing ones, too. If you see baby animals left alone, it can be tempting to immediately rush to rescue them. Sometimes, though, the best strategy is to just wait and see.

When a woman contacted Out Back Wildlife Rehab Center about some abandoned baby squirrels she’d found in her backyard, they happily gave her some advice. They told her it was important to try and reunite the babies with their mom first if she could, and if the mom didn’t come back, they’d take the squirrels in. The mom had likely gotten startled after some trees were cut down and was lying low for a while.

While they waited for the mama squirrel to come back for her babies, the woman and her family did everything they could to make the tiny squirrels comfortable.

“[They] put the babies in a box with a soft blanket and a heat pad on low underneath and kept the babies safe and warm until the tree trimmers were gone,” Out-Back Wildlife Rehab Center wrote in a post on Facebook. “Once things quieted down, they put the box-o-babies out by the cut-down trees.”

Once everything was quiet again, the family watched and waited — and that’s when the mama squirrel appeared and ran up to investigate the box.

“It took mama a while to realize her babies were nestled in the warm box, but finally one by one she moved them to their new home,” Out-Back Wildlife Rehab Center wrote on Facebook.

Even though the babies had appeared to have been abandoned, their mom had always been nearby. She was just waiting until the coast was clear to collect her babies. In the meantime, the babies had been well looked after, and now they’re back home where they belong.

“This is how we like things to end,” Out-Back Wildlife Rehab Center wrote.   

Source: the dodo