Last month, Newhouse Wildlife Rescue (NWR) staff received what seemed like a typical call about an injured opossum. The adult opossum had collided with a vehicle and sadly suffered fatal injuries. But when the folks at NWR arrived at the scene, they quickly realized she wasn’t alone.

To their surprise, a litter of living babies surrounded her, and they refused to let go of their beloved mom.

“They were still clinging to [her],” NWR wrote on Facebook. “She had been hit by a car, and they remained helpless without her.”

The staff carefully pulled the joeys off their mom and placed them in a blanket-lined pet carrier. They were heartbroken to have to separate the babies from their late mother, but they knew the babies had a fighting chance to survive.

They shuttled the opossum babies to NWR’s headquarters and were excited to discover that all the babies were relatively healthy. In addition to a nutrient-rich feeding plan, the staff devised the perfect plan to help the babies thrive as they would in the wild.

“They have been nice and comfy in an incubator and have a life-size opossum stuffy to cling to,” NWR wrote. “It’s not mom, but it will do.”

The babies took to their plush mom right away, draping themselves across her back and snuggling into her fur.

“These baby opossums love being able to simulate what they would have been doing with their mother if they weren’t orphans,” NWR wrote in a Facebook post.

You can watch the babies snuggle on the plush opossum here:

It’s been a couple of weeks since NWR rescued the baby opossums, and the tiny crew is doing better than ever. They’re still not big enough to be released, but thanks to NWR’s quick thinking, they are growing stronger every day.

“[They’re] cuddling with their new pretend mommy,” NWR said in a Facebook video. “They’re doing very, very well.”

The team at NWR looks forward to the day when all six joeys are strong enough to return to their natural habitat. Until then, they’ll keep soaking up the adorable sight of the babies with their plush mom.

While they wish she could be there to raise her babies, the NWR team knows the late mother opossum would be pleased with their rescue efforts.

“I bet mom would be so happy to know her babies are safe and being taken care of,” NWR wrote.