A campus squirrel spent the night off-campus after imprinting with a UNC lecturer.
Broadcast and electronic journalism lecturer Lynn Owens left to take a phone call on Tuesday when a squirrel got into her car while it was parked by the admissions office.
“As I was leaving campus right after class, I was on Highway 40, and I felt something on my foot. I looked down and a squirrel was crawling up my leg," she said. "I kind of had a moment of panic, but obviously I’m driving on the highway, so I kind of kept calm and the squirrel crawled into my lap, drove all the way home, and I realized obviously that the squirrel had somehow got into my car on campus."
Owens said she’s not quite sure how he got into her car.
“I put (my tote bag) on the wall, which is right there with trees and everything," Owens said. "I think that the squirrel might have smelled snacks or something in my bag and crawled in."
She took the squirrel to her house to stay overnight. Her kids named him Mr. Nuts and wanted to keep it. Knowing that wasn’t a good idea, she took the squirrel back on campus the next day. But he didn’t want to leave without her.
“I let it go, and the thing didn’t want to leave me,” she said. “He kept crawling back up my leg and I’m like, 'buddy go, you’re free,' but it kept crawling up my leg.”
Owens said when she got in touch with several people she found out there are actually licensed wildlife and squirrel rehabilitators. She said she found Wildlife Welfare and was told it looked like an orphan while she was dropping it off.
“The squirrel might have been separated by his parents somewhere on campus,” she said.
