“Who’d want to steal a squirrel?” asked Engineering junior Ben Plotnick.
With the recent disappearance of several ceramic squirrels — part of a public-art project coordinated by the Penn Art Club — that’s exactly the question on many students’ minds.
Last spring was the first installation of the “Squirrels on Locust” project, which allows various student groups to purchase and paint their own ceramic squirrels. The squirrels were placed along Locust Walk, and several were promptly stolen.
The squirrels were installed for a second time on Thursday at around midnight. According to College senior and Penn Art Club President Ingrid Lindquist, five of 12 are already missing, despite the fact that the squirrels were tied down.
The missing squirrels belong to Harrison College House, Cuban Student Group, Penn Irish, the Wharton Council and the Wharton Advisory Board, Lindquist said.
An additional sixth squirrel, belonging to the International Affairs Association, is still missing from last spring’s squirrel heists.
Lindquist called the thefts “really discouraging,” since the squirrels are valuable to the whole Penn community. She equated stealing a squirrel to stealing any other item of value, like a bicycle.
“A lot of people didn’t know what had gone into the squirrels themselves,” she said, adding that each is worth around $300 and required approximately 24 man-hours of labor.
“I acknowledge it’s a funny project to begin with, but would you really like the thing that you value to be taken from you?” Lindquist asked.
Despite her frustration, Lindquist remained optimistic.
“The fact that people are stealing the squirrels is a sign they like them,” she said.
Lindquist asked that students bring squirrels back to Locust Walk, even if it’s in a “funny way.”
Once the exhibition ends on Friday, groups whose squirrels are still accounted for will have the option to donate them back to Penn Art Club, who will auction them off. Proceeds from the auction will support local arts programs, Lindquist said, though the group has not decided which ones.
Though Division of Public Safety spokeswoman Stef Cella said Penn Police had not received any reports of stolen squirrels as of Tuesday afternoon, Lindquist said she plans on working with DPS to review camera footage of the thefts.
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