Should The University of Delaware take control of the increase of squirrel population?
The University of Delaware campus is famous for its splendid beauty and the amazing visual that it transmits to all its visitors and residents. This amazing and enormous campus provides all types of places for the student’s needs, including places to attend classes, study and/or just enjoy a simple day. The University of Delaware campus has a very important infrastructure that is primordial for the university, including lecture halls such as Brown Hall, residence halls such as Kent and so many other invaluable sources like student centers and the helpful Morris Library. This campus is also home to some individuals that are not specifically connected with…show more content… They contribute to keep control of flora and vegetation by consuming and/or using it for nesting or shelter. Squirrels also give an excellent visual to the campus so it makes the environment look more natural and cozy. Some cons about squirrels seem to be nothing much, but when it comes about overpopulation, it becomes a problem which can really affect the way we live. The natural environment may also be affected by the practices of squirrels, such as bark stripping.
Bark Stripping is common practice among many temperate tree squirrels and some ground squirrel. Squirrels trip away the top layer of the bark to get to the sweet, phloem tissue underneath. This occurs most commonly in early summer and the results are fatal to trees, either by killing them outright or by making them susceptible to infestation by insects or fungi. (Thorington, Ferrel 124)
This contributes negatively to the image of the campus and may also affect the school financially. Practices like bark stripping becomes more of a problem when overpopulated group of squirrels are in concentrated areas smaller than the…show more content… On campus, we may see many people being surprised by squirrels jumping out from the trash cans. This is a type of situation where The University of Delaware residents are exposed to be attacked or harmed by wildlife on campus. Sometimes they just get too friendly with students and this leads to accidental attacks out of fear. Leana Bugglin-Borer is a student here at The University of Delaware who enjoys the campus and its fauna as much as everybody else, but one day she had a scary and close encounter with one little habitant. According to her testimony, she was on the north side of the green (main campus), when she realized that a squirrel was climbing somebody’s leg not too far from where she was, she decided to get closer to see better and unexpectedly the squirrel jumped from the other person’s leg to her arm, she did not react violently and decided to stay stationary, the squirrel seemed nonthreatening, she even asked somebody to take a picture of her while she still had the squirrel in her arm. Suddenly, the squirrel turned around and bit her. She reacted instantly, and the squirrel got on the ground, but did not leave, it stayed with her. The bite wasn’t