Gone Fishin': PSU Monty Python Society branches out to squirrels
by Debra Ball
The Daily Collegian, November 18, 2002

State College squirrels have just gotten a little wilder.

Well, more like a little unnerved.

Last Thursday, signs on Old Main patio reading "Squirrels gone wild!" and "Flash us your nuts!" were placed by members of the Monty Python Society to celebrate the new branch of the club, the Penn State University Monty Python Society Squirrel Fishing Rescue Rangers.

From 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., members ran after squirrels on the lawn and partook in other squirrel-related activities including a squirrel toss with a stuffed squirrel named Sir Bedevere the Squirrel and a squirrel calling contest.

The club members originally planned to be the Squirrel Fishing Service (SFS), but members of the Science Fiction Society did not approve of the sharing the SFS acronym, and so the rangers were born.

Valery Annunzio (junior-English) is the society's "giant wooden bunny," also known as the spokeswoman.

She said the club did not come up with the squirrel fishing idea, but members saw Web sites made by students who'd done it, and they thought it would be fun because of the high squirrel population on Penn State campus.

"It's just fun; it's goofy; it's really bizarre, and if you've ever seen a squirrel fly, it's really funny," Annunzio said.

She said members do not harm the squirrels in any way because "very few squirrels will hold on long enough for you to lift the string off the ground."

Annunzio described squirrel fishing as "quirky" and "bizarre," which she said is typical of the organization.

The Monty Python Society has been promoting goofiness for over three decades now, and members meet at 6:30 every Sunday night in 106 Osmond to continue the tradition.

"The club is kind of a way for people to just be silly and be weird and kind of get it off their chest," Annunzio said, "Because we're so commissioned to be as normal as possible on a daily basis, that sometimes it can be really frustrating."

Squirrel plotting was another activity that proved popular, as passersby, including Jordan Lane (freshman-international politics), placed pins on a map of the campus signifying high squirrel sighting areas. Lane stopped to plot some squirrel sightings between Deike and Willard buildings.

The highlight of the day's events was the squirrel fishing.

Armed with an "official" squirrel-fishing license, Andrea Staargaard (freshman-marketing and international business), whose position in the organization is the "executor of very small rocks," demonstrated the proper technique for baiting some Cheerios and attracting a squirrel.

She cut a string and attached a rock to one end to serve as a weight. It was then time to find some squirrels.

"You can't throw it directly at them," she said. "Because that would scare them away."

Matt Rudy (senior-architectural engineering), who is the resident squirrel fishing expert and club president, said the day was very successful, and he would like to make it an annual event; however club members are not "big on sequels."

"We like to keep it fresh," he said.