The e-cigarette scourge has become so virulent that even the squirrels are now getting hooked on vaping.
In a viral video circulating online, a squirrel is seen with an automated smoking device while perched on a fence in Brixton, South London, the Telegraph reported.
The squirrel was clutching the device between its paws while appearing to chew on it.
Meanwhile, in October, TikTok user @tts_tiktok22 posted a video of a squirrel in Philadelphia with what what looks like an Elfbar electronic cigarette.
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These squirrels were likely not attracted to the nicotine, but rather the fruity smells wafting up from it, experts said.
“In the old days, you’d see lots of discarded cigarette butts, but I don’t remember squirrels running around with them,” Craig Shuttleworth, a red squirrel expert at Bangor University in Wales, told the outlet. “It would be reasonable to assume that a vape would be more attractive than a normal tobacco product that’s not fruity.”
Unfortunately, the detrimental effects could be the same.
The wildlife expert said that the squirrels could inadvertently consume microplastics by gnawing on the vaping devices, but they could also ingest the nicotine.
“They don’t encounter nicotine in the wild, so like many chemicals, it’s something you don’t want them exposed to,” he lamented.
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