{"id":497715,"date":"2026-03-27T05:24:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T05:24:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/497715\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T05:24:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T05:24:20","slug":"nutty-moment-squirrel-is-seen-vaping-in-london-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/497715\/","title":{"rendered":"Nutty moment squirrel is seen ‘vaping’ in London park"},"content":{"rendered":"

24 Mar 2026, 12:52 Updated: 2d ago <\/p>\n

Experts are issuing fresh warnings about the dangers litter presents to wildlife<\/p>\n

24 Mar 2026, 12:52 | Updated: 2d ago <\/p>\n

Want LBC stories before everyone else? Set us as your Preferred Source on Google<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Shocking<\/p>\n

Shocking moment squirrel is seen ‘vaping’ in a London park.<\/p>\n

Picture:
\nThe Telegraph<\/p>\n

A squirrel has been seen ‘vaping’ in a London park as experts issue fresh warning over the \u201cdanger discarded litter poses to our wildlife\u201d.<\/p>\n

Footage shows a grey squirrel sitting on a wooden fence in Brixton, south London, nibbling on an e-cigarette<\/p>\n

The RSPCA said the video served as a stark reminder of the \u201cdanger discarded litter poses to our wildlife\u201d.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the charity continued: “These vapes contain materials and poisonous substances which can be hazardous to animals including plastic, lithium and nicotine.<\/p>\n

Read more: HS2 trains could run slower than planned as UK has no bespoke test track<\/a><\/p>\n

Read more: National Lottery could roll out new draw within weeks after \u00a3450m tech upgrade<\/a><\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The UK government banned disposable vapes in June 2025.<\/p>\n

Picture:
\nGetty
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe would urge people to hold on to their litter until there\u2019s an opportunity to dispose of it safely and responsibly \u2013 and to always recycle where appropriate, so we can reduce the number of animal casualties we see impacted by rubbish.\u201d<\/p>\n

The UK government announced a ban on disposable vapes in June 2025.<\/p>\n

Before the ban took effect, an estimated 5 million disposable vapes were being discarded every week in the UK.<\/p>\n

Craig Shuttleworth, a red squirrel expert at Bangor University, said that squirrels are likely attracted to vapes because of their fruity flavours.<\/p>\n

\"Red<\/p>\n

Red squirrel feeding on discarded plastic yoghurt cup.<\/p>\n

Picture:
\nGetty
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

He said: “In the old days, you\u2019d see lots of discarded cigarette butts, but I don\u2019t remember squirrels running around with them. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be reasonable to assume that a vape would be more attractive than a normal tobacco product that\u2019s not fruity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEating a vape isn\u2019t part of their natural diet. The components aren\u2019t something they encounter in nature.\u201d<\/p>\n

One Facebook user voiced concern about the lithium-ion batteries in disposable vapes, saying: \u201cI\u2019d be more worried about a squirrel biting into the battery and suffering lithium poisoning, or the battery exploding.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"24 Mar 2026, 12:52 Updated: 2d ago Experts are issuing fresh warnings about the dangers litter presents to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":497716,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[90,56,54,55,4407],"class_list":["post-497715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=497715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497715\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/497716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=497715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=497715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=497715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}