Supermum to the rescue! Squirrel pulls off mission impossible after her baby is left dangling from a branch 25ft above ground



This caring mother carries out the ultimate rescue mission after her little baby gets itself stuck in a precarious position hanging from a tree.

The tiny squirrel, thought to be about eight weeks old, had fallen 20ft from a woodpecker's nest it had been sleeping in.

Dangling on a thin branch, still a further 25ft from the ground below, it looked as though it could fall at any moment.

But thankfully help was not far away as its mother was perching on a neighbouring tree when the accident happened.

Help! A baby squirrel (right) clings for its life from a thin branch after falling from a woodpecker's nest it had been sleeping in 20ft above. Its mother (left) appears oblivious to the panic behind her

On a knife edge: As the mother realises the danger, she navigates her way over to a branch directly below her panic-stricken youngster and prepares to grab her offspring

Amazingly, she didn't fret once she spotted her baby in a spot of bother and instead took a moment to clean her fur.

However, she soon composed herself and navigated her way over to a thin branch directly below her panic-stricken youngster.

With the rescue operation at its make-or-break point, she grabbed hold of her baby's tail and, with a bit of luck, managed to haul her down to safety.

The mother then put her child on her back and took to a safe point on a separate tree.

I've got you! The mother reaches up at full stretch on her hind legs to grab hold of her baby's tail In her loving arms: With a gentle tug and a bit of luck, the mother hauls her baby towards her

Photographer Carla Brandon was fortunate to capture the events on camera after her husband had alerted her as to what was going on.

She took the pictures in her back garden of her home in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the U.S.



Carla, 50, said: 'My husband called me to our back garden because he thought a squirrel had caught a bird.

'There was a scuffle high up in a tree in our garden, and we watched as a baby squirrel fell from the tree and miraculously landed on a thin branch.

'I then grabbed my camera and was hoping to witness a rescue and I was not disappointed.

'The baby hung to the branch for about three minutes - he never moved and seemed to be in shock.

Job done: The mother carries her baby in her arms to a safe point on a different tree

'The mother was very vocal during her rescue attempt, screeching and chattering, and generally making a lot of noise.

'Amazingly, she took a few seconds to clean her fur, we couldn't believe she would take the time to do so while her baby was in such peril.

'In hindsight, I think she wasn't sure what to do about his predicament and needed a little time to figure it out.'

Carla, a piano teacher, added: 'The mother sprang over to the tree and walked carefully onto a thin branch below her baby, testing to see if it would hold her.

'Once she was underneath the baby, she stretched up and reached for him and pulled him towards her.

'She pulled very hard, and the branch she was on snapped. They dropped very fast, but thankfully, their momentum was stopped by another branch.