Results of staff salary survey
Inside Furman is published monthly during the school year by the Furman University Department of Marketing and Public Relations. For story ideas, e-mail John Roberts, editor.
Nuts, acorns, seeds....and cars?
Ann Bryant didn't know what to think last summer when she noticed grooves in the bumper of her 1997 Toyota Camry.
They were small, but perceptible. And they were growing, it seemed, each week.
A phone call from Rhonda Childress cleared up the mystery.
Childress, who works in the Rushing Center, had just witnessed an odd scene: a grey squirrel standing upright and gnawing away at the underside of Bryant's bumper. Childress and Bryant, who works in the library, began asking around.
Other victims began emerging from the woodwork. The bushy-tailed mammals
( Sciurus niger ) were apparently interested in German and Japanese cuisine. Janis Bandelin's 2004 Camry and Julie Carter's dark green 1999 Volkswagen Passat (appropriately nicknamed “Sweat Pea”) had also been recent entrées.
Had the grey squirrels, Furman's most populous form of wildlife, forsaken nuts and seeds for cars?
Public Safety was called.
“I had never heard of squirrels eating bumpers,” says Bob Miller, the university's long-time director of Public Safety.
Some foraging by Environmental Health and Safety Manager Director Bernie Stanton unearthed the nut of the problem: Like rats and mice, squirrels possess four sturdy incisor teeth that never stop growing. Of course, constant nibbling on nuts and acorns keeps their teeth at a comfortable length.
But on rare occasions, squirrels have been known to chew on car bumpers, pipes and even tires in an effort to keep their choppers groomed.
Fortunately for university commuters, there seems to be only a small clan of automobile-chewing squirrels, and they inhabit the north employee parking lot adjacent to the Charles Ezra Daniel Memorial Chapel.
Since squirrels, who reach an average height of 18 inches, must stand on a curb to reach car bumpers, Miller said motorists need only park slightly away from curbs to protect their cars.
For insurance, however, Stanton has sprinkled squirrel-deflecting granules in the area.
It was that or removing the campus speed limit, says Miller.
“The only real enemy to squirrels on this campus is speeding vehicles.”