Revenge of the Squirrels - by Alan Borer
If you read the last installment of our newsletter, it ended on a rather downbeat note. Otterbein president Walter G. Clippinger tried to establish a colony of handsome gray squirrels on campus in 1914. But in order to do that, the native red squirrel population had to be destroyed. Squirrel aesthetics could be debated for hours, but Clippinger, or whoever wielded the shotgun or poison, was knowingly or unknowingly upsetting the natural order. And while “Revenge of the Squirrels” is only a metaphorical lesson (or a trashy B movie title), the lesson remains.
In July of 1996, in the two weeks ending July 11, Westerville police and/or Otterbein College security received at least seven reports of persons bitten by an unusually aggressive squirrel. The squirrel attacked randomly but fiercely, and there was no question in anyone’s mind that it was the same squirrel. Two Otterbein students were attacked in one day. One victim fended off the squirrel using his heavy backpack. Another managed to grab the squirrel and hurl it away.
Attacks seemed to be concentrated around the intersection of Home and Center streets. Several members of the Albright family, who lived near that corner, were attacked on their front porch, forcing them to use the back door only. Another student was attacked on west Main Street:
“…He was walking to his car at 10:30 a.m….when he felt something on his leg. He looked down to find a grey squirrel The animal started to bite and scratch him, so he struck it and it fell off. Then the squirrel started chasing him down the street as he ran home.”
Another attack was directed at a United Parcel Service deliveryman:
“He went up on a porch on West Home Street to deliver a package when the squirrel lunged for him. He tried batting it away with his clipboard, but the squirrel bit him on the knee. He sought treatment from his doctor.”[i]
Not surprisingly, the news of citizens being chased down the street by a squirrel brought a bit of fame, or notoriety, to our fair city. All the big city newspapers ran articles on the famous rodent. Why would a squirrel, which weighs a maximum of 1.3 pounds, suddenly begin attacking slow-moving but fiendishly clever humans? Rabies, many onlookers thought. Rabies often causes irrational behavior in animals; so does distemper and a host of other ailments to which squirrels fall victim. While rabies is the first thing that comes to mind for many, St. Ann’s hospital stated that “no documented cases exist of humans getting rabies from a squirrel.”[ii]
Stories vary of how the squirrel rampage ended. “Police say they have killed the animal, but . . . ‘The squirrel they got was not the right squirrel,’” claimed one of the Otterbein students bitten. “”They’re never going to catch that squirrel.”[iii]
The next year, another squirrel story made the rounds in Westerville. The second story featured not an attacking squirrel but of a missing one. The stories were related. This squirrel had a name, Grace, and hailed from Monroe, Washington. Grace was a trained squirrel actor, brought to Westerville to portray the previous summer’s attack squirrel in a Discovery Channel program. Grace was not aggressive, but did manage to escape from her cage while in Westerville. A $100 reward failed to recover her.[iv]
But this quick summary must end with the same lesson our previous story conveyed. We humans are part of the natural order. Fate has given us the power to alter nature, but that same power cannot always foresee consequences. We can rearrange squirrel populations, but a squirrel might bite you back. Change the atmosphere and you might make it just a wee bit too hot. If we re-engineer the world, we had better know what we are doing – or go slow enough to backpedal if we make a mistake!
For details of the individual attacks, consult the extensive article in Columbus Monthly, September 1996, page 34.
- Alan Borer
[i] The Other Paper, July 11, 1996.
[ii] News and Public Opinion, July 17,1996.
[iii] Columbus Monthly, September 1996, p. 34.
Iv Westerville News and Public Opinion, November 5, 1997.