Is that animal drunk? Squirrel gorging on fermented pears can barely stand, video shows
A Minnesota squirrel was acting so drunk it couldn’t stand up straight.
Katy Morlok told Fox 9 that feeding squirrels has become one of her hobbies because she loves to watch them outside her home while she is working. She put old pears outside last week for the animal, and the squirrel was acting drunk, Morlok said on YouTube.
“Oh no, those pears were so old I bet they fermented,” Morlok told Fox 9. “And then he got drunk and I didn’t mean to do that, so I went out and I grabbed all the pears.”
It looks like the squirrel was having trouble standing up straight, video shows. The animal wobbles back and forth, rolling its head back.
“Aww poor drunk squirrel,” a YouTube commenter said. “He’ll sleep it off. He loved him some fermented pears.”
The squirrel returned to the feeder the next day and was fine, Morlok said on YouTube.
It’s not the first time an animal’s food or drink has gone to its head.
Mammals can accidentally get drunk from nectar or fermented fruit, National Geographic reported. The animals tend to get “sleepy” and “stumble-y,” Don Moore, associate director of the Smithsonian National Zoo, told National Geographic.
A video from a few years ago shows a squirrel acting drunk after eating too many fermented crab apples, and in 2015, a squirrel caused hundreds of dollars worth of damage after turning on beer taps, BBC reported.
“He must have flung himself on the handle and drank some as he was staggering around all over the place and moving a bit slowly,” Sam Boulter told BBC. “I’ve never seen a drunk squirrel before. He was sozzled and looked a bit worse for wear, shall we say.”
