I was deeply touched by the story of a squirrel who could have died, but survived, found a family and became famous. Meet Tommy Tucker, the first squirrel model.

He could have remained a normal squirrel, but there was a tragedy in his life: his mother died when he was just a baby. Fortunately, he was picked up by a kind woman, Mrs. Ballis, and Tommy came to live with her family.

The squirrel was raised and released, but he could no longer live in the forest — he had been in the wild too little and did not have time to learn how to get food on his own and protect himself from predators. In addition, the family took care of it and fed it — and even wild squirrels tend to return to places where food is often found.

Forest people don't usually wear clothes, but Tommy got into decent society and had to dress up. You can't say that he was against it — the squirrel never bit and always willingly posed.

The squirrel was sewed a variety of clothes — dresses, coats, and even hats.

Just the pants somehow did not work out. Although the gender norms of people probably do not apply to squirrels in any case :)

In general, judging by the photo, the squirrel lived very well. When Mrs. Ballis took him with her, there were always kind people who gave Tommy goodies.

And at home, he had his own crib, made specifically for his size. Caution: the next photo is too cute!

And Tommy's wardrobe was very impressive — more than 30 suits, and according to some data, all 100. In the photo below, only a small part is visible.

Of course, not all the costumes were included in the photos, but I'm happy to share what I could find.

In wartime, Tommy became a real hero: he and his hostess traveled around the country and collected money for charity and the needs of soldiers. The military wrote letters to the squirrel, and even government officials thanked the squirrel for his patriotism. However, this is a completely different story...

And a little PostScript: when I read about the first squirrel model, I was surprised: does Tommy have followers? Turns out, yes! For example, two of its modern relatives are also fans of posing :)

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