Students and Faculty React to Squirrel Overpopulation

Across the Academy lawns, bushy-tailed squirrels paw at the soil for acorns. However, the carcasses of their unlucky kin are strewn along the sides of the Exeter town roads. The recent increase in dead squirrel sightings is a result of squirrel overpopulation.

The overpopulation piqued the interest of Biology Instructor Christopher Matlack, who consequently taught his ecology classes the reasons behind it. According to Matlack, the abundance of squirrel food last fall allowed more squirrels to survive through the winter than in previous years. Last spring, the collosal population of squirrels reproduced, resulting in a significantly larger number this fall. Upper Lilly Pinciaro stated that because there are so many squirrels, the younger ones migrate to find food; instead, they find themselves flattened on highways.

“It seems like someone just had this giant thing of dead squirrels and they just were like throwing them onto the road,” Pinciaro said.

Many day students encounter these dead squirrels on their commute to school. In one day, uppers Eva Carchidi and Pinciaro counted 131 squirrels on a nine-mile stretch of Highway 101. “It seems like someone just had this giant thing of dead squirrels and they just were like throwing them onto the road,” Pinciaro said.

Upper Maddie Machado noted the emotional impact of seeing the roadkill. “Everyday, I drive in fear of murdering one of God’s creatures,” she said.

Lower Henry Palmer expressed his disgust due to the number of dead squirrels on the road. “I literally can’t drive to school without seeing at least 20 of those things, let alone being on the highway and seeing their dead bodies splatter painted on the lanes,” he said.

Palmer worried more about his car than the squirrels’ lives. “When I first started seeing the dead ones on the highway, I was more worried about getting their blood on my car than hitting live ones,” he said.

Students also encounter the corpses while walking into town. Upper Avery Clowes did not recognize the squished mounds were squirrels. “I thought it sort of looked like one of those dried bananas you get at Trader Joes. It was all squished and dry had the same brown stripes of color,” he said.   

Just last week, upper Rose Coviello ran over a squirrel while driving with her mom. Coviello now bears the guilt for her role in the mass death of Exeter’s squirrels. “Before, we knew we weren’t contributing to all their death, but then we hit it,” she said.

Senior Gavin Sabalewski was “pretty sad” the first time he saw the dead squirrels. However, he still chose to look on the bright side of this issue. “Then I heard the information behind it and learned it was because of this huge population, which means there are just more squirrels around. So really I should be happy because there are more animals.”

Matlack explained that nature will run its due course and the squirrel population will soon run down to its average size. “This year, these crops are very low,” he said. “So it is likely that the squirrel population will decline and then remain low until another mast year occurs.”