My Aunt Nancy sent these photos some time ago of an orphaned squirrel that was “adopted” by a litter of Papillons and I’m just getting around to posting them. Of course, being dubious of these sort of pictorials, I checked the story out on snopes and found it to be one of the real and beautiful ones that make us say, “Awwww.”

Turns out it isn’t unusual for an orphaned infant of one species to be adopted by the litter of a completely different species. Dogs, cats, squirrels and even tigers are among a variety of mammals whose females will often raise another’s offspring when it’s introduced into their own litter - nursing, washing, protecting and playing with the newcomer as if it were one of her own.

Such was the case with Finnegan the squirrel who was found injured and malnourished in the Seattle area in September 2005 when he was but a few days old. He was brought to Debby Cantlon, an area resident with a reputation for taking in sick and injured animals and nursing them back to health.

What happened next was a bit unexpected. Ms. Cantlon’s  black and white Papillon dog, Mademoiselle Gisselle, having just given birth to a litter of pups, adopted Finnegan as shown in this series of photos.

After about eight weeks, when Finnegan was able to forage for food on his own, Ms. Cantlon released him back into the wild. She says he’s doing fine on his own, hiding nuts in all the usual places for next winter.

Click each thumbnail to view the full image.