This day in Ball State history: ‘Dog Attacks One Of Squirrel Tribe’

<p><strong>Ball State Digital Media Repository</strong></p>

Ball State Digital Media Repository

It was a simpler time in 1945.

On page three of The Ball State News (later to become The Daily News), an authorless saga of the death of a gray squirrel printed Jan. 26.

Nestled next to a story about Ball Memorial nurses leaving to serve in World War II and an advertisement for a show hosted by the Army Air Force, the brief thriller read:

“If you have noticed a bereaved expression on the tiny faces of the squirrels on the campus, you have probably concluded that something is wrong. The reason for this display of sadness is that a member of their group is missing. 

“One of our gray squirrels was maliciously assailed the other day by an unfriendly dog, and its back was broken as the squirrel was flung about in the vice-like grasp of its attacker's jaws. ‘Johnny Squirrel’ later had to be put to death to prevent his suffering. 

“Now only three squirrels are to be seen eating corn and sunflower seeds at the feeding station at the south side of the Science Building.”

Even in the throes of the second World War, Ball State’s squirrels filled a niche on campus.

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