Cathy Free
Derrick Downey Jr was relaxing on his second-storey balcony in Los Angeles when a bushy-tailed fox squirrel suddenly appeared.
Downey said they stared at each other for a few seconds, and then he asked the squirrel: “Do you want something to eat?”
“It seemed obvious to me that he did, so I told him, ‘Stay here, I’ll be right back’,” Downey recalled.
Downey ran into his kitchen, found some peanuts, and hurried back to the balcony.
“The squirrel was still sitting in the same spot, so I figured he was listening to me. When I held my hand out with the peanuts, he pulled my hand closer and started eating.”
Downey, who had been feeling low, was enchanted by the encounter.
“I was having a rough time, not because of the pandemic but because of some mental health issues,” Downey said.
Since that day in 2020, the squirrel has continued to scamper up to his balcony for treats, often bringing a friend with him, Downey said. He named the affable pair Richard and Maxine for no reason other than he liked the sound of it.
Last year, he shared a short video clip on TikTok of him giving Richard and Maxine sips of water from a glass and tenderly telling them not to quarrel. It has racked up more than 26 million views.
“Don’t be fighting! Do you want some water? Come here. I know it’s hot ‒ we get agitated, we get aggravated,” Downey tells the squirrels in the clip. “You’re having a moment ‒ it’s okay to have that moment.”
As he bonded with the squirrels, he started to feel better himself.
“Going outside and connecting with nature was my gateway to relief from depression. It brought me peace. I would see Richard walking around, and talking to him made me feel good about the world.”
His TikTok and Instagram followers loved the videos of him getting to know the squirrels and talking to them.
“Validate their moments and emotions. You’re the best squirrel dad!” someone commented.
Downey replied: “Mental health is important. Gotta make sure they’re good mentally and physically.”
Another person commented: “He’s gentle parenting the squirrels.” and another said: “Bro treats squirrels better than my parents treat me.”
Downey was excited his followers liked the squirrels as much as he did, so he started posting daily videos of Richard and Maxine. In a recent one, he tries to teach Maxine patience as he peels her an avocado.
In another, with a squirrel on his shoulder, he drops wisdom.
“You ain’t always going to have the best of days,” he tells Maxine. “But when life is down, and you’re going through a moment, just be still, all right? Don’t put too much pressure on yourself.”
His followers replied with comments such as: “Thanks so much because that was EXACTLY what I needed to hear right now!!! Grateful.”
Soon after his breakout video last year, he went to work, building a two-storey house with a picket fence for the squirrels, and he encouraged his TikTok followers ‒ now more than one million ‒ to get involved.
“I created a squirrel wish list so everyone could help me furnish the house and make it cosy,” Downey said. It wasn’t long before he was swamped with miniature furniture and paintings, a birdbath, holiday decorations, tiny dishes and house plants.
His followers began to call him the “Squirrel Whisperer”.
Downey leaves out nuts for the squirrels, and he’ll occasionally give them grapes and small pieces of avocado. He said he’s never been bitten, and his home has never been damaged by the critters, despite some exposed cords on his balcony.
“It’s bringing people a lot of joy. I’ve heard from people all over the world who enjoy watching the videos.”
Now his videos attract a community of people who love squirrels and are seeking kindness to animals and humans ‒ just like him.
“This page isn’t about the squirrels, really. It’s about the good vibes,” one person wrote on his Instagram.
Downey said he didn’t intend to reach so many people with his squirrel videos. He was just following his instincts. He has always loved animals.
When Downey was growing up in Atlanta, he said he always got a kick out of watching squirrels run up and down trees, but he was more taken by the hermit crab his first-grade teacher kept in her classroom.
“I’d stay inside at recess to watch it, and at the end of the school year, my teacher gifted the hermit crab to me. That was my first pet.”
He moved to Los Angeles five years ago and works creating social media content, he said.
Downey said he had just finished decorating Richard and Maxine’s pad for Halloween.
“Their house is decorated for every holiday. They have more decorations than I do.”
He records every squirrel milestone ‒ including a gender reveal party he held for laughs in January for Maxine’s new litter of five baby kits ‒ so TikTok viewers could follow the drama unfolding each day on his balcony. The tiny squirrels lived in a palm tree for about three months until they were old enough to leave the nest.
“I didn’t take care of them ‒ I want to keep them wild ‒ but I’m happy if they decide to drop by,” Downey said.
“We’re not sure who is the father of the babies ‒ people have speculated it’s either Richard or Raymond, another squirrel that shows up and takes half the food. We’ve nicknamed him Hood Rat Raymond.”
He said he sees Richard and Maxine almost every day for a ‘’perfect little therapeutic moment’’. - The Washington Post
The Independent on Saturday