College freshman Samantha Kleinman was strolling down Locust Walk one day in November when she was suddenly hit by something small and furry.
"I was attacked by a squirrel," Kleinman said. "The squirrel had jumped out of the trash can and was holding onto my jacket pocket, so I was pretty much standing there shaking it off and freaking out."
Although Kleinman's specific encounter with squirrels may be a rare occurrence, Penn does play host to an abundant squirrel population due to its urban location.
Though experts say it is difficult to estimate the exact number of squirrels in Philadelphia, Marty Overline, Penn's pest manager, estimates that he removes approximately 250 squirrels from buildings each year.
And with squirrel mating season in full swing -- the first litter of the year is usually born in late winter or early spring -- the animals continue to be a problem on campus.
In "the cooler times during the winter, they do try to migrate towards the buildings and try to find a place to nest," Overline said. Within the past four months alone, he has already removed 40 to 50 squirrels.
Overline said that he has caught a squirrel in every building at Penn, including two at University President Amy Gutmann's house on Walnut Street last semester.
"They've kind of adapted to urban living with us," he said.
College freshman Mike Sanders had a squirrel inhabiting his closet for a week last semester. Eventually, maintenance personnel were able to get rid of it, but not before it had feasted on snack foods.
"I had a plastic case with Ramen noodles, and it would push the lid off of the box, and it would eat the dry Ramen noodles and the cereal in there," Sanders said.
According to Penn Psychology professor David White, who teaches a course on animal behavior, squirrels are "opportunists" and will eat almost anything, especially human foods.
In fact, squirrels have "developed an association between people and food," rather than being afraid of humans.
"Our foods have a whole lot of fats and calories," White said. Squirrels are "evolved to be foraging machines. ... I frankly don't blame them if they find a food source that rich. You can understand why they'd go after it."
Engineering freshman Neel Gowdar said squirrels have been frequent visitors to his room on the third floor of Ware College House. He has woken up to find a squirrel sitting on his bed on more than one occasion, and a squirrel has even had a conversation with his friends through the Internet.
"I went to take a shower and the window was open. ... When I came back, I saw a squirrel leap off my desk," Gowdar said. The squirrel had apparently been sitting on his keyboard gnawing through a bag of chips, and "somehow managed to press enter" after typing a jumble of letters and a long line of zeros into a text box.
But stealing snacks is not the only crime that squirrels have committed on campus.
Overline emphasized that squirrels have the potential to cause a lot of damage in buildings.
"Squirrels are constantly gnawing at things," Overline said. "They can be a fire hazard, gnaw through wires."
The brothers at the Alpha Chi Rho fraternity on 36th Street have had their fair share of dealing with squirrels throughout the years.
"Basically there's a family of squirrels that live in the house with us," said Engineering sophomore Kevin Ecker, who is the current house manager of the fraternity.
"When they're up in the ceiling, they damage the sheet rock. They eat trash. Our ceilings are kind of starting to crumble in some spots. They've caused damage to the electrical wiring," said Wharton junior Marcus Cole, the former house manager at Alpha Chi Rho.
However, Cole said that the squirrels do not cause a tremendous amount of destruction, describing them as "more of a hassle than anything."
Overline advises people not to feed the squirrels and to keep their windows closed or get a screen to prevent them from coming in.
As for Kleinman, her plan for avoiding squirrels is simple.
"I try not to walk so close to the garbage cans" anymore, she said.
