There is a team of thieves on campus. They have been going through backpacks, stealing left-over food after lunch, and when there are people present, they are lurking around waiting for the perfect opportunity to pounce. These thieves have gone without punishment for years, possibly because of their small size. They live in the trees and on the pillars above campus, staring down at the students as they go through their everyday routines.
It’s the squirrels and crows. These animals have Been on campus since the beginning, and they won’t let a day pass without causing a problem for someone. Middle-schoolers go home with torn lunchboxes, and teachers try to do whatever they can to eliminate the problem. “I try to scare the squirrels away from kids’ lunchboxes,” says drama and psychology teacher Donna Walker, “but as soon as I go away they go right back to eating the lunchbox—not the food in the lunchbox—the lunchbox.”
Although eating lunchboxes may seem like a pretty dense thing to do, squirrels are actually extremely smart. Studies show that they have phenomenally elastic bodies, sharp brains, and human-like behaviors. These qualities help them to achieve things that most people wouldn’t think possible. Sophomore Joy Harlynking, among others, has witnessed this mastery. “One time I was sitting at one of the picnic tables by Mr. Milsten’s room,” she says. “I saw a squirrel go up to a lunch box, unzip it, take out a granola bar, take it up to a tree, unwrap it and start eating it. I’m not kidding!”
The sneaky thievery isn’t unique to the squirrels. The creepy crows on campus use similar qualities to get fed each day. In fact, a new study in National Geographic suggests that crows may have the capacity to understand human intelligence, even more so than chimpanzees and gorillas. They have the ability to use their imagination to anticipate events. This may be the reason they seem to target people on campus. Spanish teacher Amarylis Heard absolutely hates the crows. “They always poop on my car!” she says. “No matter where I park, they always get me.” She even thinks one of them may have been responsible for dropping a chicken wing on the head of her daughter, junior Bianca Heard.
It would be hard to rid the campus of these creatures because of their smart minds and creative capabilities, but with students’ lunchboxes in danger, it just may be a good idea to try. In the meantime, keeping food in lockers and cleaning up outdoor lunch tables after lunch might be a good place to start. Hopefully the campus critters won’t learn to crack locker combinations.
