Once, an American man named Jeffrey Longo was walking through his hometown in Florida when he came across a tiny creature on the sidewalk. The little animal was curled up in a ball and barely breathing. When he picked it up, he realized just how small it was—smaller than his pinky finger.
The animal was barely alive. Without food and water, it would have died, and there were no adult squirrels around. Strangely, at first, Jeffrey had no idea what kind of creature he had found.
“I thought it was a newborn mouse or maybe a hamster,” Longo recalls. He took a photo of the little one and shared it online, where users quickly identified the animal as a baby flying squirrel. It seemed the tiny creature had just been born.
With the help of information online, Jeffrey learned how to care for the baby. He also came up with a sweet name for her: Cookie. For the first three months, the squirrel lived comfortably in Jeffrey’s shirt pocket. As she grew, she started to explore her surroundings.
Cookie soon became friends with Jeffrey’s other pets—two dogs. They sniffed her, and they started playing together while the little squirrel showed no signs of fear. As Cookie grew, Jeffrey thought about releasing her. However, veterinarians explained that she wouldn’t survive in the wild anymore. So, he decided to keep her. No one objected. Jeffrey had fallen in love with Cookie, and she found a safe and cozy home with him.
