They found him on the side of a road in Grafton, New South Wales. A tiny Eastern Grey kangaroo, barely 1.5 kilograms, alone.

 

They found him on the side of a road in Grafton, New South Wales. A tiny Eastern Grey kangaroo,

 barely 1.5 kilograms, alone.

Nobody knows exactly what happened to his mother. She may have been hit by a car, or he may have

 simply fallen from her pouch. Either way, the joey was orphaned and helpless.

Wildlife carer Gillian Abbott and her son Tim Beshara took him in and named him Doodlebug. To

 give him something to cling to, Abbott handed him a stuffed teddy bear.

He hasn't let go of it since.

Photos of Doodlebug clutching the bear went viral around the world. In one, he wraps both paws

 around it, pressing his face into the fur. In another, he's lying in the grass beside it like it's a sleeping

 companion. He even practises his kicks against it.

For joeys, pouch time with their mother is everything. It's warmth, safety, the sound of a heartbeat.

 Without a mother, a teddy bear is the next best thing.

Doodlebug eventually went through a "soft release," meaning he could hop off into the bush

 whenever he wanted. He did. But he kept coming back. For the bear. For Abbott. For the closest

 thing to home he had.

Sometimes comfort looks exactly like a baby kangaroo refusing to let go of a stuffed animal