Students in the College of Architecture say they are mad over the killing of two squirrels in Giles Auditorium.
Workers from the university physical plant killed two baby squirrels trapped in a wall in the fourth year architectural studio after a nest was reported to be in the building, said students who witnessed the event.
Students noticed that squirrels in a nest between the brick wall and roof were dropping trash onto desks below. Physical plant employees closed the hole on the exterior of the building to prevent the squirrels from nesting in the wall, but the squirrels were trapped inside after the opening was closed, said Mary Jordon Boler, a fourth year architecture student.
“The physical plant used expandable foam to block all of the openings on the outside of the building, but the squirrels were still inside,” Boler said.
Boler said she told staff members in the architecture office that the squirrels were inside of the wall, and workers came to get the squirrels out Aug. 31.
“They came into the building with molding and a hammer,” Boler said. “They said that they were going to knock them in the head.”
She continued to say that the workers stuck a piece of molding into the hole between the wall and ceiling, and killed one squirrel.
“After they had killed it, they flung it onto a desk,” Boler said.
Fourth year student Catherine McNeel said she saw that the workers then got another squirrel out of the wall.
“They seized the other one with a stick and flung him onto the floor,” McNeel said. “When he began to move, they flung him over the railing into the second year studio.”
Boler said that once the squirrel was in the building, one worker chased it with the piece of molding until he could catch the remaining squirrel.
“The worker beat the squirrel with a stick repeatedly until it was dead,” McNeel said. “It was unnecessary.”
Boler caught one squirrel in a plastic container and released it outside of the building before the physical plant workers arrived.
“I feel relieved that I was able to save one squirrel,” Boler said. “I feel responsible, but I was afraid that they would die inside of the wall.”
“It was a horrible sight,” McNeel said. “If they had to be killed, there was a much more humane way for the workers to do it.”
Some angered students who saw the event, e-mailed physical plant director, Bob Johnston about the killings, and although Johnston was not available to be interviewed by The Reflector, he did respond to the e-mails.
In these messages he said that it was not the physical plant’s procedure to kill animals trapped in buildings, and he assured the students that it would not happen again. Johnston also offered to meet with students to discuss the event.
“A lot of us really liked having the squirrels around. We enjoyed seeing them stick their tails out of the wall,” Boler said.