On this picture taken from video, Niko, a pet squirrel, stands on the shoulder of Yeison of their tent at a migrant camp on Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023 in Matamoros, Mexico. Yeison, a 23-year-old migrant who declined to offer his final identify as a result of he fears for his household’s security in Venezuela, traveled hundreds of miles with Niko to the border with america. However Yeison and Niko could also be separated if he’s granted entrance to the U.S. Credit score: AP/Valerie Gonzalez
On this picture taken from video, Niko, a pet squirrel, and his proprietor, Yeison, of their tent at a migrant camp, Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023 in Matamoros, Mexico. Yeison, who declined to offer his final identify as a result of he fears for his household’s security in Venezuela, traveled with Niko hundreds of miles to the border with america. However Yeison and Niko could also be separated if he’s granted entrance to the U.S. Credit score: AP/Valerie Gonzalez
On this picture taken from video, Niko, a pet squirrel, is fed by his proprietor, Yeison, of their tent at a migrant camp, Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023 in Matamoros, Mexico. Yeison, who declined to offer his final identify as a result of he fears for his household’s security in Venezuela, traveled with Niko hundreds of miles to the border with america. However Yeison and Niko could also be separated if he’s granted entrance to the U.S. Credit score: AP/Valerie Gonzalez
MATAMOROS, Mexico — Throughout the weeks it took Yeison and Niko emigrate from Venezuela towards the U.S., they navigated harmful jungles and over a lifeless physique. The 2 are so inseparable that Yeison offered his telephone so each had sufficient bus cash to proceed their journey.
Now as Yeison prepares to lastly enter the U.S., it is seemingly he should depart Niko behind.
That is as a result of Niko is a squirrel.
The 23-year-old man and his pet squirrel are an uncommon however blunt reflection of the emotional decisions migrants make over what to take — and what to depart behind — as they embark on the harmful journey north. Yeison, who declined to offer his final identify as a result of he fears for his household’s security in Venezuela, stated going with out Niko was out of the query. However Mexico is the place they may be pressured to half methods.
Yeison, who’s amongst tens of millions of Venezuelans fleeing political and financial unrest again residence, secured an appointment for Saturday to current himself on the border to hunt entry to the U.S. and request asylum. Animals are typically not allowed to cross the border.
“It could virtually be like beginning with nothing, with out Niko,” Yeison stated.
Many who set off on the roughly 3,000-mile (4,800-kilometer) journey to the U.S. achieve this with solely what they will carry and their family members. For Yeison, that was a squirrel with a black stripe and flecks of white hair, who made the lengthy journey nesting in a crimson knit cap stuffed inside a backpack.
On this picture taken from video, Niko, a pet squirrel, and his proprietor, Yeison, of their tent at a migrant camp, Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023 in Matamoros, Mexico. Yeison, who declined to offer his final identify as a result of he fears for his household’s security in Venezuela, traveled with Niko hundreds of miles to the border with america. However Yeison and Niko could also be separated if he’s granted entrance to the U.S. Credit score: AP/Valerie Gonzalez
For six months, Yeison and Niko lived in a tent at an encampment with a whole bunch of different migrants in Matamoros. The positioning is throughout from the Texas border metropolis of Brownsville, which is a whole bunch of miles east of Eagle Go and never experiencing the identical dramatic improve in migrants that prompted the mayor to situation an emergency declaration this previous week.
On a latest day, Niko crawled over Yeison’s shoulders and stayed shut whereas darting across the tent. Chances are high slim Yeison can take Niko throughout the border, however volunteers on the encampment aren’t giving up.
Gladys Cañas, the director of a nongovernmental group, Ayudándoles A Triunfar, stated she has encountered different migrants who needed to cross with their pets — cats, canines and even a rabbit as soon as. However till now, by no means a squirrel.
Cañas helped join Yeison with a veterinarian to doc Niko’s vaccinations to supply to frame brokers. She is hopeful they’ll permit the squirrel to cross, whether or not with Yeison or with a volunteer.
On this picture taken from video, Niko, a pet squirrel, is fed by his proprietor, Yeison, of their tent at a migrant camp, Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023 in Matamoros, Mexico. Yeison, who declined to offer his final identify as a result of he fears for his household’s security in Venezuela, traveled with Niko hundreds of miles to the border with america. However Yeison and Niko could also be separated if he’s granted entrance to the U.S. Credit score: AP/Valerie Gonzalez
“There’s a connection between him and the squirrel, a lot that he most well-liked to deliver it with him than depart the squirrel behind with household in Venezuela and face the hazards that include the migrant journey. They gave one another braveness,” she stated.
Yeison stated he discovered the squirrel after practically stepping on him in the future in Venezuela. The squirrel seemed to be newly born and Yeison took him residence, the place he named him Niko and members of the family fed him yogurt. The choosy squirrel, Yeison stated, prefers nibbling on pine bushes and is fed tomatoes and mangoes, even in instances when meals is difficult to come back by.
At first, Yeison stated he sought work in Colombia. He returned to discover a unfastened pine splinter lodged in Niko’s eye and resolved after that to take the squirrel with him on the subsequent journey to the U.S.
Like hundreds of migrants, Yeison made the journey via the perilous jungle referred to as the Darien Hole, the place he stated he discovered the physique of a person beneath some blankets. He stated he hid Niko in a backpack after they boarded buses and crossed via checkpoint inspections in Mexico. However one time, Yieson stated, a bus driver found the squirrel and made him pay additional to maintain the animal on board. Yeison stated he offered his telephone for $35 to cowl the price.
As soon as they reached the encampment in Matamoros, the pair settled right into a routine. Yeison makes cash chopping hair by his tent and sometimes falls asleep sharing the identical pillow with Niko at night time.
He was bracing for a separation.
“I don’t need for him to be separated from me, as a result of I do know that we’d get heartsick. I’m positive of that,” Yeison stated. “And if he doesn’t get sick, I hope he will get to be glad. And that he by no means forgets my face.”
