No one noticed him, as he went abroad onboard a ship. A squirrel travelled thousands of kilometers by ship from India, and reached Scotland. Staff at a wildlife hospital in Aberdeenshire recently rescued the little animal.

Reports suggest that the squirrel somehow got aboard the ship, Deep Explorer. Then, he reached Scotland after travelling by sea for about three weeks. The concerned authorities of the New Arc Wildlife Hospital’s North East Wildlife and Animal Rescue Centre at Aberdeenshire mentioned this incident on Facebook on August 30, 2022.

On August 29, the crew-members of the vessel learned about the squirrel from two locals, Clara and Natasha, who informed the crews that the squirrel was rescued from the ship coming from India. Later, the crews informed the hospital about the creature. Within an hour, the hospital staff took custody of the animal.

Doctors at the hospital confirmed that this three-striped palm squirrel was an Indian species, members of which are usually seen in gardens. Currently, this travel-weary, but healthy squirrel, which is named Zippy, is staying at the hospital. Meanwhile, the hospital authorities are arranging a permanent residence for Zippy.

In a Facebook post, the hospital authorities mentioned: “Our knowledge of Indian Squirrels is mostly encyclopedic so we had used the time between the call and his arrival in quickly swotting up on the likely arrival. India has over 40 different species of squirrel, ranging from ground squirrels to giant flying squirrels. However, we decided to arrange accommodation for the most likely species which was one of the banded Squirrels.“

Talking to the media, Keith Marley of New ARC stressed: “They looked after him and were feeding him grapes to keep him well after they took him into custody. Since he arrived at the animal shelter, Zippy has been quarantined in a large cage where he’s being monitored by staff. After appearing stressed out initially, he seems to have calmed down.” He added: “He is doing well. He was a bit tired and panicked when he first came in, and stressed, but he had a good feed and seemed to be behaving very much as a squirrel normally would.”

In a nutshell, Zippy’s stunning voyage on ship from India to Scotland has surprised everyone.

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das