When a young boy in Louisiana recently saw a furry black lump crouched next to a sewer, he immediately knew something was wrong. He ran to get help and told his parents what he had seen.

“The parents went and checked on him, and sure enough, it was a little baby,” Tisha Raiford, director of Geaux Wild Rehab, told The Dodo.

The furball was a baby skunk, also known as a baby skunk. Unsure of how to help, the family contacted the animal experts at Geaux Wild Rehab and told them about the situation. After learning the details, the grateful rescuers asked the family to bring the baby skunk in as soon as possible.

“I am so grateful to the people who stop to save an innocent life and don’t just turn their backs and walk away,” Geaux Wild Rehab wrote in a Facebook post about the rescue.

In the secure rehabilitation facility, the cub received veterinary care and slowly began to behave like a healthy baby skunk again.

“She’s thriving,” Raiford said. “She’s eating and growing like she should… She’s a smart little thing. She likes to squirt.”

Now the little skunk who once sat alone on the side of the road no longer has to worry about feeling lonely. She currently lives with seven other rescued skunks at the rehabilitation facility, enjoying the comfort of an outdoor enclosure. Once they are ready, all of the skunks will return to the wild, side by side.

“She’ll go in that group of eight,” Raiford said. “And the whole group will be released together.”