Story By: Anastasia Smirnova, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder,Agency: Central European News 

Video Credit: CEN/@belkchippy

This is the cute squirrel which has become a household pet after walking onto a man’s shoe as an injured baby.

The squirrel, named Chippy, was found by Igor Grishin, 28, when he was walking to a forest near his native village of Koncherezo in north-western Russia’s Republic of Karelia region around a year ago.

Grishin said: “Suddenly a baby squirrel got on my foot, he was so tiny; it was also clear that he was injured, and it was hard for him to move.”

Igor wanted to leave the squirrel, which was about one month old at that time, on the grass, but the squirrel started moving back towards him.

He said: “I spent about 40 minutes with him, and began to make my way back home.”

However, Grishin then heard a dog barking and began fearing for the squirrel’s safety, adding: “So I went back to him and took him home.”

After dropping Chippy off at the vet, Igor began studying all the information he could find about squirrels.

In order not to bother his cat Musya, who was already rather senile, Grishin built a special house for Chippy, and at first had to feed the squirrel every two hours.

Grishin told Central European News (CEN): “He loved to tease her. He would wake her up when she was asleep and run away that very moment. He would climb up to an elevated surface and tease her from his post. He was too fast for her to catch him.”

Musya died in spring 2019, and despite all the teasing never showed any signs of aggression towards Chippy.

Chippy normally stays in his house but Igor lets him run around the house in the morning, during a short break in the afternoon and in the evening.

He said: “I need to pay attention to him, he is a rodent and at the beginning tried to eat everything.”

Even though squirrels are wild animals, Igor does not allow Chippy to spend too much time outside.

“He grew up as a pet. I live in the north and frequent changes in temperatures can be bad for squirrels. They get sick easily.”

In addition, Grishin is afraid that his curious little pet could fall victim to stray dogs living in the neighborhood, adding: “He once ran away to a forest but came back.

“He is very smart, he can try climbing up somewhere and fail over and over. Then when he will finally manage, he will remember how it was done and will do exactly the right things every next time.”

Netizen ‘belochka_park’ said: “Such a cutiepie.”

Another one ‘yanabelolova’ added: “I am in love!”

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