Water-skiing squirrel delights crowds in Florida – and she can’t get enough of the camera

• Toni Marie, 36 and Chuck Best, 41, from Florida, teach squirrels to waterski
• Read More: Restaurants are urged to serve ‘nutritious’ grey squirrel meat 

A water-skiing squirrel shows off impressive water tricks to crowds of fans in adorable video.

Owners Toni Marie Tedesco, 36 and husband Chuck Best Jr., 41, from Florida, know how to put on a show with their super talented pets after teaching their squirrels how to waterski.

Taking on her husband’s family business of Twiggy the waterskiing squirrel the couple regularly put on shows and entertain crowds of people with their squirrels, ensuring this is something the squirrels love doing.

Twiggy is actually the fourth squirrel named Twiggy to be trained to water-ski by the Florida couple.

The original was rescued as a baby by Chuck and Lou Ann Best in 1978 after it was blown from its nest during a hurricane.

A water Skiing Squirrel shows off impressive water tricks to crowds of fans in adorable video

Toni explains: ‘Chuck has been raised doing this as his parents are the ones who started Twiggy the Water-Skiing Squirrel. For myself, I have been doing this for two years.

‘All of our squirrels are rescues! We do not breed or just take squirrels from the wild. When we rehabilitate squirrels, they become part of our family and are extremely spoiled and well cared for.

‘Once you earn an animals love and trust it’s easy! 

‘Squirrels are super smart animals; we start off with getting the squirrels to stand on the skis outside of the water and then we walk with them in circles in the pool and start getting them to do one lap.

‘It takes a few months and practice is only about five to ten minutes, we don’t force them, it is something they like to do.

‘There’s not anything that is hard to teach a squirrel to water ski.. Every squirrel has a different personality and if they don’t want to learn to water ski then that is totally fine with us.

‘The feedback we have received at shows is outstanding! Everyone that comes to the shows absolutely loves it. 

‘Kids are always laughing and cheering but for me the greatest fulfilment is seeing grown adults completely entertained.

‘We always get compliments after the shows. When we post videos on social media, we have received negative feedback.

Twiggy during the water-skiing performance in front of a packed audience 

Owners Toni Marie Tedesco, 36 and husband Chuck Best Jr., 41, from Florida, know how to put on a show with their super talented pets after teaching their squirrels how to water ski

Apparently it takes a few months and practice the skill but it is something the squirrels like to do

Taking on her husband’s family business of Twiggy the water -skiing squirrel the couple regularly put on shows and entertain crowds of people with their squirrels, ensuring this is something the squirrels love doing

The shows they put on are not only the thrill of a squirrel water-skiing but it’s also for people to learn about water safety (Chuck with Twiggy) 

There have been 11 ‘Twiggys’ that have learned how to water ski since 1979 

Toni said: ‘Kids are always laughing and cheering but for me the greatest fulfilment is seeing grown adults completely entertained’

Toni said that squirrels are ‘super smart’ animals and it doesn’t take long to train them (pictured Twiggy the squirrel )

‘I believe it’s because people haven’t seen a show or don’t watch our other videos to know our whole story and what we do.

‘The shows we put on are not only the thrill of a squirrel waterskiing but it’s also for people to learn about water safety, rescuing/rehabilitation of squirrels and that 100% of donations we receive go back to squirrel rehabbers.

‘There have been 11 ‘Twiggys’ that have learned how to waterski since 1979.’

The idea to teach the first Twiggy to water-ski stemmed from a joke after Mr Best bought his daughter a remote-controlled boat.

When friends teased that he’d actually bought it for himself since he played with it so often, he quipped: ‘I have to learn to drive the boat so I can teach my squirrel to water-ski.’

Before long, the squirrel was attracting press attention and calls flooded in television shows wanting her to come on and perform.

The Bests decided their squirrel needed a stage name and settled on Twiggy since she chewed off the leaves of Mrs Best’s house plants leaving nothing but twigs.

When Mr Best drowned in 1997 after rescuing his stepfather from the water, Mrs Best quit touring with the third Twiggy.

But when the demand for Twiggy continued, she trained the fourth Twiggy and returned to the show circuit, but this time delivering a water-safety message urging people to learn to swim and wear a life jacket when boating.

The latest Twiggy went on to travel the world and has even starred in two films – Dodgeball and Anchorman.

Source: Read Full Article