Elize and Anton Olivier were visiting Timbavati Picnic Site in the Kruger National Park in South Africa one day when the couple heard a very odd noise coming from above them. At first, they assumed a bird was making the strange noise, but then they caught sight of something that let them know that the situation was far more desperate than they realized.

They were horrified to see a newborn baby squirrel hanging by it’s neck from a thorn on a tree! They did not see the squirrel’s mother anywhere, so Elize and Anton knew that it would be up to them to save the squirrel.

The newborn squirrel was a Smith’s Bush squirrel or Paraxerus cepapi. They are tree-dwelling squirrels that typically have between one and three baby squirrels each mating season. They tend to be vegetarian, but they are known to sometimes eat insects as well. It takes them 6 weeks for them to fully ween, but they leave the nest to find food independently after just 19 days.

The newborn baby looks to be only 2 weeks old, as it’s tiny eyes have not even opened yet! The poor little squirrel seems to have gotten lost and somehow slipped out of the tree. If Elize and Anton were going to save the squirrel, they knew that they were going to have to act very fast.

Find out what they ended up doing in the video below, and SHARE this story so your friends and family can see this as well!