Animals are known to easily form bonds with humans. Even animals that aren’t usually domesticated have shown attachments to particular individuals. And this squirrel found life long friends in a family who saved her life.

In 2009, Brantly Harrison and her family rescued a 4-week-old squirrel after they found it seriously injured from an owl attack. The poor squirrel was in poor shape, but the family took her back to their South Carolina home and nursed her back to good health.

Affectionately naming the squirrel Bella, the family fed her fruit and nuts and kept her safe until she was ready to be released back into the wild in the spring of 2010. They thought that they would never see the cute critter again, but they couldn’t have been more wrong.

Bella has returned to the family home regularly over the past 8 years to visit the family who saved her life. She would wait by the window, looking for somebody to notice her. She even became so friendly with the family that she would hang out with them in the garden.