A ‘heroic’ squirrel caused the campus-wide power outage today
Goodnight sweet prince
It was found that the cause of the near campus-wide power outage on campus this afternoon was caused not by a lightning strike, or a very bad storm, but by a squirrel.
Yes, you read that right: A squirrel.
The tiny woodland creature caused power to be lost in well over 50 buildings, and caused several classes to be cancelled for the day. The furry little thing apparently climbed into a transformer on North Eagleville road, which connects to a circuit that serves many of buildings on campus.
UConn spokeswoman Stephanie Reitz told The Tab:
“A squirrel had somehow gotten itself in there on top of the pole and had gotten into the transformer and when this squirrel met its demise, the spark from this led down the wire over to the circuit and caused the circuit and the transformer both to blow out.”
The lover of nuts and terrorizing birds has now been called a true American hero by much of campus. Senior, Andy Guo wrote on Facebook, “Not all heroes wear capes.”
Unfortunately in addition to canceling classes, the tiny rat also caused the university to send home all non-essential personnel from the buildings affected, and left many students who were living in dorms affected to be left without power for a severe amount of time.
Maybe the squirrel knew that we were all suffering from a case of Sunday Scaries, or maybe it was just jealous that everyone was sitting in class and they had no one to hang out with outside Gampel.
It is thought that the squirrel did not mean any harm when it climbed into the transformer and decided to chow down on some good wire.
I fully expect people to memorialize the squirrel somewhere on campus. Painting the rock, dressing up like them for Halloween, anything. This adorable, bushy-tailed fiend managed to bring down an almost entire college campus in the matter of seconds.
It’s sad that the squirrel was unable to see what they had managed to accomplish, and how much love was being sent their way by everyone. That squirrel did not realize what they were going to do as they were just trying to munch on some lunch.
If you see a squirrel on campus, let them know that we are sorry for the loss of their friend, and we are thankful for what their friend did for us today.