WE ARE. . . Squirrels?

I know I said I’d discuss something other than the squirrels at Penn State, however, I have to make an exception for this situation. While I often refuse to take credit for any eccentric tales relayed about my own life, I can’t avoid noticing that I – like a convoluted Disney prince of sorts – find animals attracted to me in unique ways.

First, for the most recent experience; the reason for this post. As I walk with purpose to my anthropology class so as not to be late, I notice a female student peering down at a bundle of fur nestled in the grass. Approaching cautiously, I see the unmistakably bushy tail of a baby squirrel, often referred to as a kit or kitten. Having experience with both fostering and handling of young animals, I reluctantly accepted responsibility as a single father for that day after he claimed me; bringing my forsaken ward around with me, offering water and warmth to keep him safe. I was able to get in contact with someone from Center Wildlife Care, a licensed rehabilitator who came to pick him up that evening to ensure his successful release (and rehabilitation if necessary). As has shown to be the trend, I find that needy animals seem to align their paths with mine in a manner that feels as if nature was drawing them to me. I instinctually relate with Flynn Rider from Tangled, a mildly inconvenienced man who can’t help but to have good deeds be forced onto him of nature’s (well, Rapunzel’s in his case) own volition.

I apologize for the cliché, but for this post to be comprehensible, I have to flash back to spring break of 2019 (egregious, I know). Before my sister departed her campus, she came across a baby squirrel, abandoned with no trace of a mother, claiming her as a protector by climbing up her leg. Upon my arrival to where my sister had brought the squirrel, she seemed to be drawn to me, though perhaps only because my hands seemed warm enough. For several months, Octavia remained with us as a primarily indoor squirrel before she was able to transition into outdoor time as well. Over the following year, I watched the squirrel I fostered and rehabilitated show great success, and long before I left for Hawaii in July of 2020, she was a free lady.

A smidge further back was during the summer of 2017 at Twin Creeks, an outdoorsy summer camp with multitudinous plants and animals, as can be expected at a camp such as this. Attempting to lead a kayak trip, one camp counselor found a common snapping turtle standing guard by the paddle rack and was too cautious of the kids under her care to risk disturbing the turtle. Being the capable animal wrangler I was, even back then, I simply walked up to the turtle from behind and lifted him by his tail, moved him over by the less domesticated lakeside flora, and walked away. Albeit shorter an experience than the others mentioned, this one was the first that cemented my status as a man of the wild in a positive way, which prompts me to continue to help those in need today.

The furthest back I have evidence of (without asking my mother for more pictures) is from 2015 during a camping trip with my neighborhood friend Theo. Walking through the woods by the creek with him, I spotted a brown object in the water rocking back and forth against the current. What I later learned to be a barred owl was thrashing in the creek, a result of being dangerously wound in fishing line and getting hooked around a branch to keep it from flowing downstream. Wading into moving water isn’t recommended (so don’t try this at home), but I knew my legs would stand sturdy against the currents so I strode towards the downed raptor and cut the line that attached to the tree branch, allowing me to move the bird to shore. There, I carefully cut the line off and freed his injured wing. Staying with him in my tent until a wildlife rehabilitator could come to take him to a center, my mom took this picture, although I have cropped it for my ego’s sake. For some strange reason, a myriad of animals seem to have me written down as their emergency contact.

Now how does this tie into Penn State again? Oh, that’s right, because I was drawn to this school in a similar manner. From my first tour in the fall of my senior year, no other school’s campus felt like home the way Penn State’s did. Coming onto campus to move into my dorm, walking to and from my classes or the gym, laying in bed and looking out the window, and so many other pedestrian experiences feel more ‘right’ because of where I get to feel them. The people we interact with every day on campus feel similarly about the home we all share for our undergraduate years, and they make me supremely confident that WE ARE a family, animals included.