14 DAY TRIAL // In the end, their neurons function on the same basis as ours and squirrels are getting hooked on crack cocaine in London, hidden by addicts and dealers in gardens. The rodents are digging up the stashes and eat the powerful drug, which comes in small chunks, neglecting their traditional nut diet.
Several squirrels behaving bizarrely have been observed in Brixton, South London, following a police blitz against cocaine dealers and users, who seem to have chosen to bury their stashes in people's gardens in the streets around Brixton.
"I was chatting with my neighbor who told me that crack users and dealers sometimes use my front garden to hide bits of their stash. An hour earlier I'd seen a squirrel wandering round the garden, digging in the flowerbeds. It looked like it knew what it was looking for. It was ill-looking and its eyes looked bloodshot but it kept on desperately digging. It was almost as if it was trying to find hidden crack rocks." one resident told Life Style Extra.
Other residents too have noticed squirrels turned unusually aggressive.
"We have not had any dealers reporting the theft of their stash by squirrels but the animal is attracted by smell and if it detects something it likes it will dig it up. These animals are big foragers. If a squirrel did open a bag of crack and start consuming it there is no doubt it would die pretty quickly. I suspect that nobody has reported it because they are a wild animal and when they are found dead no-one cares." said RSPCA.
America too would face the issue of the crack squirrels, common in parks where addicts roam in New York and Washington DC, according to Internet legends. The drugged animals are known to be aggressive with the park visitors in their search for a dose.