At University of North Texas, we had an unofficial mascot of an Albino Squirrel. Last summer, "Baby" met an untimely, but natural death when it was attacked by a hawk. It would be the natural fate of an albino squirrel to be easily spotted by a predator. But Baby was actually the second albino squirrel to be spotted on campus. And now a third is found! This is a baby squirrel and it is assumed that it's "Baby's baby." Below is the article, but also the link to the source article because if you go to the source, there are links to an article about Baby's death (which made BIG local news on all the TV stations and radio stations in the Dallas-Fort Worth area . . . even the memorial service was aired on TV) and there's a link to the Albino Preservation Society, a campus organization. I personally own an Albino Christmas Tree ornament and a series of "Albinotines" -- special heart shaped greeting cards with photos of Baby sent in lieu of Valentine's Cards. It's all great fun.
May 03, 2007
New baby albino squirrel discovered living on UNT campus
Posted by: Julie Elliott Payne
The UNT campus community was in mourning after the campus’ albino squirrel, "baby," was killed by a red-tailed hawk. But as the spring semester winds down, it turns out “baby” left a legacy - a third albino squirrel has been discovered on campus.
The newest squirrel - a baby - is living near Maple Hall and was first seen the week of April 27. It is part of a group of several baby squirrels living in a tree near that residence hall.
http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif
Some students consider the albino squirrel an unofficial mascot and good-luck charm. Just last month, a memorial was dedicated at the Willis Library Cyber Café in honor of “baby.” K.T. Shiue of the North Texas Institute for Educators on the Visual Arts took the photos of “baby” used in the memorial and was able to capture several photos of the new squirrel.
The first albino squirrel on campus, nicknamed "Thelonius," was spotted around 2000. It is unclear what happened to that squirrel. “Baby” was first spotted in April 2004.
In 2002, a group of students founded the Albino Squirrel Preservation Society to raise awareness about the animal.
story and photo retrieved May 5, 2007 from: http://inhouse.unt.edu/index.cfm?commentID=1777
The story also made the local TV news' website with even more photos:
http://www.nbc5i.com/news/13258627/detail.html
And here's a personal connection: some of the photos (the one on this blog entry that came from the UNT website and two of the one's on the Channel 5 website) were taken by K.T. Shiue who was in my doctoral program with me.
1 comment:
Hi Theresa,
I saw it on the news! It's also been in the Dallas Morning News. This is a big story in this area!
Dana :-)
(received in email)
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