Squirrels caught ‘vaping’ in viral videos spark concerns from animal welfare groups

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I was shocked to see this video going around – apparently, someone filmed a squirrel seemingly ‘smoking’ an e-cigarette in the UK! Animal welfare groups are understandably upset and are speaking out about it, which is good – it’s just awful to think about an animal being put in that situation.

A video obtained by The Telegraph shows a squirrel holding and appearing to use a brightly colored vape pen while sitting on a fence.

The video seems to have been filmed in a park in Brixton, South London. However, this isn’t the first time a squirrel vaping has become popular online.

Over the past couple of years, several videos have appeared on social media showing squirrels seemingly ‘vaping.’ One video, from July 2024, featured a squirrel holding a vape and was set to Afroman’s song ‘Because I got high,’ quickly gaining over 43 million views on TikTok. More recently, in October 2025, a woman in South Philadelphia filmed a squirrel investigating an e-cigarette in her yard.

Squirrel caught vaping in UK just one of many similar incidents

A recent article in The Telegraph, published in March 2026, about a mischievous squirrel in the UK has sparked a lot of discussion online. The RSPCA, a long-established animal welfare organization, shared their worries about this increasing behavior with the newspaper.

An RSPCA spokesperson said seeing a squirrel with a disposable vape highlights the risks that carelessly discarded trash presents to animals.

Vapes contain dangerous materials like plastic, lithium, and nicotine that can harm animals if ingested.

Please keep your trash with you until you can throw it away properly, and remember to recycle whenever possible. This will help protect animals from getting hurt by litter.

According to Craig Shuttleworth, a red squirrel specialist at Bangor University, squirrels might be eating tiny pieces of plastic by chewing on discarded vapes.

He told the Telegraph that while cigarette butts used to be everywhere, he doesn’t recall seeing squirrels carrying them. He believes vapes might be more appealing to animals than traditional, non-flavored cigarettes.

It’s important to keep animals from swallowing nicotine. They wouldn’t naturally come across it in their environment, and like many other substances, exposure can be harmful.

A recent online discussion began after seven stolen dogs miraculously returned home, even though they’d been transported over 17,000 miles to a meat market.

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2026-03-25 00:18