If you give a girl a squirrel: "Squirrel girl" reflects on her time at UNC

Nancy Smith had no idea how big of an impact hiding a squirrel in her laundry hamper would have on her time at UNC.

Smith, now a senior, brought the squirrel back to her room in Hinton James Residence Hall during her freshman year. HoJo, the squirrel, left days later but people still recognized Smith.

“The first couple of weeks there were people coming up to me saying, ‘Hey, are you the squirrel girl?’” she said.

Smith said keeping the squirrel led to everything from a hateful email about harming animals, to a bid to join St. Anthony Hall.

After HoJo was discovered living in Smith’s dorm room during the Fall 2012 semester, she arranged for the animal to be picked up by CLAWS Inc., a rehabilitation center for wild and exotic animals just outside of Chapel Hill.

“Luckily, (the squirrel) was young enough to still be rehabilitated and released into the wild,” said Kindra Mammone, executive director of CLAWS Inc.

Smith said she never intended to keep the squirrel permanently.

“People were just so shocked that it happened,” she said.

Smith grew up wanting to become a zoologist but did not pursue her continued interest in animals. Now an Asian studies, and peace, war and defense double major, Smith minors in public policy and participates in Naval ROTC.

Rick Bradley, associate director of housing and residential education, said this was the first and only incident of its kind. He never expected to deal with a student purposefully keeping a wild animal.

“It was such a random event,” he said.

After surrendering HoJo, Smith made no other attempts at keeping pets in her room, but she has lived on campus for four years.

It is illegal in North Carolina to keep wild animals without a permit, but Smith did not get in trouble because she only kept the squirrel for two days.

“I was just trying to do the right thing by the animal, which I suppose makes me like a hippie,” Smith said. “But that’s fine.”

She said if she did not pick up the squirrel, she thought someone else would have done the same because it was drawn to humans.

Mammone said baby animals need to be trained in the wild not to approach humans because they have not yet developed a healthy fear of people. HoJo was a baby squirrel at the time.

CLAWS Inc. currently has 41 squirrels in rehabilitation at its center.

Mammone said she frequently receives calls from UNC students about distressed animals. She recommends students call an animal center in the area and watch without interfering if they find an animal in distress.

“The most important thing to do is just call before stepping in,” she said.

Smith plans to enter the Navy when she graduates in the spring. Occasionally, she thinks about finding out where HoJo ended up.

“I have overcome the infamy of the squirrel event,” she said.

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