Current Events > Twiggy the water-skiing squirrel retires act after nearly 40 years of performing

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After 39 years of entertaining fans, Twiggy the water-skiing squirrel has officially retired.

The squirrel made famous in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy and singer Brad Paisleys music video, River Bank, made her final performance Sunday in the X Games in Minneapolis. In her final act, Twiggy stood upon a pair of water skis controlled by a remote control boat.

Lou Ann Best, who describes herself as Twiggys mom, told WTSP that the current Twiggy is 10 years old-- there have been seven-- and she is ready for retirement.

Best started training squirrels to water ski after the drowning death of her husband, an auxiliary trooper with the Florida Highway patrol, drowned after he jumped in a river to rescue his stepfather, who had fallen out of a boat.

Best told KARE her late husband came up with the idea of a water-skiing squirrel after he nursed a baby squirrel back to health. He whittled water skis out of Styrofoam and taught the squirrel to ski on his daughters toy boat.

Since his death in 1997, Lou Ann and Twiggy have been teaching kids about water safety, and have made thousands of appearances, hoping to be to water safety what Smokey the Bear was for fire safety, KARE reports.

The squirrels final performance in Minneapolis brought the story full circle -- the first Twiggy performed for the first time at a real estate convention there 39 years ago.

39 years

that the current Twiggy is 10 years old-- there have been seven

Holy fuck squirrels live a lot longer than I thought