Teen Presses Finger on Injured Squirrel’s Chest to Save Him With Mini CPR
When police officers in Minnesota noticed a car stopped in the middle of the road with the driver’s side door flung open, they pulled over to check out the situation. That’s when they spotted a young man kneeling at the curb… and performing tiny chest compressions with his finger on a poor squirrel.
In a body-cam video posted on the Brooklyn Park Police Department’s Facebook page, 19-year-old Chris Felix explains: “I kind of ran him over a little bit. Yeah, so you know, trying to help it out.” Felix, who details cars, happened to have a glove on him, so he was able to perform CPR without worrying about directly touching the squirrel. Luckily, the furry dude didn’t show any signs of being squished.
“If the tire didn’t hit him, he probably just got tumbled from the pressure of the car,” one of the officers said in the video. Felix agreed, saying, “No, if he would’ve [been hit by the tire], he would’ve popped.”
After about 20 minutes of finger CPR, the squirrel started to show signs of life. “We’ll put you in for a lifesaving award,” one of the officers joked. Barely a second later, the squirrel bolted up and scrambled away without even a thank you. “There he goes!” one of the officers shouted. “You saved his life, dude,” the second officer yelled while high-fiving Felix.
“I was like, well you know, you never get to see this. I was there trying to help it out, you know. Something little means a lot in the long run,” Felix told local station WCCO News. “I just put a glove on and I’m like, ‘You know what? I’m going to give it my best shot.”
And fortunately for the squirrel, Felix’s best shot was enough to revive him. It’s nice to see someone showing compassion for the little guy — even if that little guy is really just a little squirrel.