1. On 9 September cameraman Paul Williams found an orphaned baby palm squirrel while filming for the BBC in Sri Lanka
2. After failing to locate the squirrel’s mother, he named him Rob and pledged to look after him
3. Over the coming days and weeks Paul fed Rob and documented his progress
4. Rob liked to sleep. A lot
5. He travelled around with the crew, sleeping and exploring
6. On 17 September he got his first major media exposure
7. Paul and Rob were delighted
8. Rob was really comfortable with his surroundings
9. But Paul wanted him to prepare for life back in the wild
10. On 21 September came Rob’s first GIF of him stretching and yawning
11. And here he is “hand surfing”
12. Rob started to attract attention from all over the world
13. Sadly, Paul had to prepare for his return to the UK
My aim was to fatten Rob up, get him strong and then find a solution for releasing him. I can’t bring him home, as much as I’d love to try. It would be best to be able to reintroduce him back to the wild.
Today I’ll return Rob close to where I found him near Wilpatu national park. There’s a hotel which has a large number of habituated palm squirrels that come to raid the tables when people leave breakfast. Here they’re tolerated, there’s plenty of food and there are trusted people who are experienced with caring for abandoned baby squirrels before slowly releasing them.
14 Rob now has his own Facebook page, and fans all over the world
According to Paul:
[Rob is] being fed and kept healthy by some people who’ve raised squirrels before. He’ll be slowly released back into the wild in Sri Lanka.
Godspeed Rob!
All images and information via Paul Williams’ blog
