Squirrel Steals GoPro, Becomes Internet Celebrity


An ambitious squirrel in Montreal grabbed a GoPro and carried it into a tree, filming a short video that has gone viral and made the Canadian rodent an unlikely internet star.

David Freiheit baited the squirrel to the camera by attaching it to a piece of bread, according to the Telegraph. Leaving the GoPro by the base of a tree, Freiheit watched as an inquisitive squirrel approached the gadget, warily examining it before grabbing the camera and carrying it up the trunk. Inadvertently filming Freiheit in the process, the animal perched on a branch to eat, discarding the GoPro after devouring the bread. The camera tumbled to the ground, where Freiheit retrieved it, recovering the squirrel’s-eye footage.

Freiheit posted the clip to YouTube on Nov. 9, as the New York Daily News reports, and the video quickly went viral. The squirrel’s encounter with the GoPro has since been viewed over two million times.

Recently, another Canadian squirrel had a lucky run-in with a passing human, as it found itself stranded on a rock in the middle of a fast moving river. As the Inquisitr noted, 22-year-old Thomas Paterson was riverboarding near Ottawa when he noticed the stranded squirrel in the midst of the water. Paterson attempted to entice the animal onto his board so that he could move it to safety, but the wary squirrel decided to attempt to escape, jumping for the perceived safety of a nearby rock.

The squirrel was caught in the water, quickly washed downstream and trapped in a small hole. Paterson was able to rescue the frightened animal, moving it to his board and transporting it to shore. Video of the incident was captured by a GoPro strapped to the young man’s head.

The viral video isn’t the only time that Freiheit has managed to successfully bait a squirrel into investigating and moving his camera. His YouTube channel contains several other videos featuring squirrels taking his GoPro into a tree, with mixed results. In one video, a squirrel struggles to carry the camera aloft, eventually reaching the safety of a branch. After separating it from the bait, the animal drops the GoPro, though Freiheit is on hand to catch it before it hits the ground.

His camera isn’t always so easy to retrieve, however, as a third video reveals an undaunted squirrel carrying the GoPro into another tree, leaving it stranded 40 feet above the ground.

[Image: David Freiheit via YouTube]

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