Four years ago in a Sussex churchyard, kebab shop owner Mehmet Onal, 58, found a baby squirrel with a broken leg.
Now, the two are inseparable and share Oreos, shopping trips, and what Mr Onal calls ‘unconditional love… loyalty and respect’.
Onal found the baby squirrel in Hailsham, near Hastings, in 2021. When an animal rescue could not help, he decided to nurse him back to health himself.
He said: ‘I take him to the vet and she said that by law they had to put them down.’
For eight weeks Mehmet cared for the squirrel, later named Alvin, giving him hydrotherapy until he recovered.
When Alvin was well again, Mehmet returned to the churchyard to release him, but the animal kept coming back.
‘He came running at me like a bullet,’ he said.
‘It was emotional. The way he came to him. He didn’t want to go.’
Since then, Alvin has lived with Mehmet and the pair have become best friends.
‘But some people call him a vermin because he is a grey squirrel. He is my boy. I start crying.
‘I am a very emotional person. He is no vermin.’
Mehmet, whose kebab shop is in the town, is often seen with Alvin at the local shopping centre where people stop to take pictures.
He has since rescued two more squirrels, Simon and Eleanor, and has gained more than 10,000 followers on TikTok by sharing videos of the animals.
Alvin, he said, has developed a taste for unusual foods.
‘He loves custard creams. But when he gets to the cream he doesn’t eat it.’
‘And everyday morning he wants sliced tomatoes with pitta bread.’
The squirrel recently celebrated his birthday with an acorn cake.
About Alvin, Mehmet said: ‘He didn’t change my life. I always say I didn’t rescue him he rescued him.
‘I always believe that Alvin is a special gift. I was in a very bad place. He made me smile again.’
He added: ‘It is unconditional love.
‘It is loyalty and respect between us.’
The RSPCA advises that if you find a sick animal you have to take it to a vet.
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