Baby squirrel rescued after being adopted by chicken

Aug. 22 (UPI) -- An orphaned squirrel kit was rescued in Scotland after a member of the public discovered the baby animal had been adopted by a chicken.

Beth Galbraith, an animal rescue officer with the Scottish SPCA, said she was called to a property in Tayport where the owner discovered a squirrel had been coming into the hen house and sleeping under a chicken.

"The squirrel kit had likely been separated from his mother and had been seeking warmth and comfort from the hen," Galbraith said in a news release. "The hen wasn't fussed at all with the new addition!"

The baby squirrel was found to be "very thin and dehydrated" so Galbraith took it to the National Wildlife Rescue Center for care.

The animal will remain at the facility until it is "healthy and old enough to be released back into the wild," Galbraith said.

"This was a very unusual rescue but also a very cute one," she said.