It’s not always the case that squirrels are the biggest talk on campus, but thanks to the savethesquirrels movement, students are raising concerns for the safety of these furry-tailed creatures.
Irene Kim has more on this strange story.
An Instagram account under the username @savethesquirrelsusc has gained the attention of students claiming that a “highly connected, wealthy student” was allegedly bit by a squirrel two weeks ago, launching a lawsuit that threatens to euthanize all squirrels on USCs campus. Nuts, right?
The account which launched its first post on Sunday gained over a hundred followers in the past few days, sparking controversy on community forums like Reddit and Sidechat.
USC student CJ Hunter, a junior studying business administration, heard about the incident and was concerned by the extent of the alleged lawsuit.
HUNTER: I think it’s an ineffective solution to an isolated incident. I don’t think that happens to a lot of people. And if you’re approaching a squirrel, you shouldn’t pet them or anything like that. I think they kind of maintain the ecosystem here and like, they’re cute. Like, why would you want to kill all of them?
To combat the alleged euthanization, the Instagram account started a change.org petition. The petition titled “Don’t Euthanize USC Squirrels” has gained over 350 signatures as of this reporting. The petitions description states “we firmly believe that this extreme and cruel action is not justified and must be opposed to protect the innocent animals that call our campus home.”
The Instagram page now has five posts, all of which urge viewers to “sign and share” their petition. The most recent post which was posted earlier today, shares pictures of the apparent documents of the lawsuit, the caption of the post claims “This morning, we received our request for the lawsuit. We understand the skepticism around such an absurdly cruel act, so we decided it would be best to post it publicly.”
Although there is no evidence driving the controversy, in fact when you search the court case number, you’ll find a 2017 mal-practiced court case not at all related to squirrels.
However, this story is driving everyone nuts.
Kaeley Cooper, a USC freshman studying law, history and culture shares her thoughts on the attacks.
COOPER: I think it’s a bit excessive. I don’t think we should euthanize all of the squirrels. I feel like they’re fine with us and we’re fine with them. So I feel like we should just like, leave them alone and let them be in their natural habitat.
Annenberg media has been unable to confirm any of the claims that the Instagram account and change.org petition have made. The petition claims that there is “no evidence” of the alleged squirrel attack nor the severity of it.
But, there is evidence for another squirrel phenomenon on campus - you’ll hear more about that next.
For Annenberg Media, I’m Irene Kim.