Squirrels have reportedly been “vaping” discarded e-cigarettes due to the fruity aromas, mistaking them for potential food.
News of the modern oddity rose to the foreground this week when viral video obtained by the Telegraph showed a grey squirrel toggling an e-cigarette while perched on a wooden fence in Brixton, south London.
The squirrel held the device between its front paws and appeared to nibble on the plastic mouthpiece.
The RSPCA said the video served as a stark reminder of the “danger discarded litter poses to our wildlife”.
Millions of disposable e-cigarettes are thrown away in the UK every week, according to National Recycling, posing a hazard to urban wildlife.
Craig Shuttleworth, a red squirrel expert at Bangor University, said squirrels have become attracted to discarded e-cigarettes due to the fruity aromas.
“Eating a vape isn’t part of their natural diet. The components aren’t something they encounter in nature,” he said. “They could gnaw at it and consume some of the microplastics.”
“In the old days, you’d see lots of discarded cigarette butts, but I don’t remember squirrels running around with them,” Shuttleworth added. “It would be reasonable to assume that a vape would be more attractive than a normal tobacco product that’s not fruity. You don’t want animals ingesting nicotine. They don’t encounter nicotine in the wild, so like many chemicals, it’s something you don’t want them exposed to.”
A spokesperson for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) urged people to dispose of their e-cigarettes safely.
“We would urge people to hold on to their litter until there’s an opportunity to dispose of it safely and responsibly – and to always recycle where appropriate, so we can reduce the number of animal casualties we see impacted by rubbish,” the statement said.
According to the California Post, this has become a problem with both birds and squirrels.
“In a 2023 blog for the animal welfare society, RSPCA Scientific Officer Evie Button discussed a bird in New Zealand that died after swallowing a vaping device as well as pictures of a squirrel trying to bury one in Wales,” added the Post.
The issue has also affected pets, with the Veterinary Poisons Information Service claiming it received “680 calls about vape incidents involving pets since 2017, 96 percent of which concerned dogs.”