Why do so many animals gravitate towards Keene and how does the local wildlife benefit the campus community?
Keene has had many critters call it home over the years. From squirrels to black bears, countless creatures wander through Keene either as visitors or as longtime residents and many students have seen the local animals around campus.
Joe Britton, the grounds supervisor for the school, shared some stories about his experiences with local wildlife in Keene. He said he has seen a lot of different animals over the years, ranging from blue herons to moose. Britton works to maintain the local environment, including any animals that have managed to disrupt campus life.
“We have had the black bear sighting lately,” Britton said when asked about recent sightings. “We do have a mother and fawn that frequent Joyce Field and there is a doe that frequents the Pondside Apartments on Appleton Street. There’s also a red fox and gray fox that pass through the area quite frequently.”
Britton added, “It has been quite a few years but we have had moose on campus. Probably about five years ago there was a moose that found its way through the rail trail to Pondside II.”
Britton said he works to keep the balance between the animal and human populations of Keene. He confirmed that there has never been a serious threat posed by any of the local animals to the campus and that most of the wildlife tends to keep to itself. He did warn, however, that people should try and keep a distance from the local animals.
Karen Seaver, an environmental science professor at KSC, added about the importance of teaching students the beauty of the natural environment and explained her own personal connection to the local Keene wildlife.
“I study nature for my job,” Seaver said regarding her relationship to the Keene environment. “I’m an ecologist in terms of my scientific background and here on campus I teach in the environmental studies department, so I’m a big believer along with my colleagues in my department about taking students outside. Pretty much every class that I teach I take students outside.”
Seaver also shared some of her own stories about her experiences with Keene wildlife on campus.
“A few years ago we had occasional bobcat sightings because there was a bobcat den where they had young over at the areas around the athletic complex. That’s probably five years ago but that was really neat since they were seen frequently.”
Although Seaver agreed that students should not mess with the local wildlife and maintain as much distance as possible, students do have fond memories about the local animals.
Senior Peregrine Burgraff had a recent sighting of one of the local critters early morning on Friday, Sept. 20.
“On my walk back I saw what I think was a fox. It was the size of a large cat and had pointy ears and a bushy tail,” Burgraff said. “The size and grayish coloration made me think it was an emotional support animal or something. It was right in front of Pondside and almost leisurely trotted to the garden behind the commons. It did not react to my voice or look at me when I tried to talk to it to get its attention.”
Chloe Erno can be contacted at
cerno@kscequinox.com
