That Viral Vaping Squirrel Video Is Cute—but the Danger to Wildlife Is Very Real

A gray squirrel perched on a fence in Brixton, South London, clutching what appeared to be a vape and nibbling on it. The Telegraph shared the video on March 23, and the internet did what it does: turned it into a meme.

But behind the viral moment sits a growing wildlife concern that’s been building for years, one that connects discarded e-cigarettes, fruity flavoring, and real harm to animals.

In fact, vaping squirrels have been going viral with increasing regularity.

In October 2025, a TikTok user posted a video of a gray squirrel nibbling on the mouth end of a vape device in Philadelphia.

Back in March 2023, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) joined calls for a ban on disposable vapes in the UK after several similar sightings.

“So far, we’ve heard about a bird in New Zealand who was poisoned and died after swallowing a vape, and we’ve seen pictures of a squirrel in Wales trying to bury a vape,” the RSPCA wrote in a 2023 article.

The UK’s disposable vape ban went into effect on June 1, 2025. Nearly one year later, the problem persists.

Why squirrels keep grabbing them

The short answer: it smells like fruit.

Craig Shuttleworth, a red squirrel expert at Bangor University in Wales, pointed to the fruity scents of modern vapes as the draw. Traditional cigarettes never triggered the same behavior.

“In the old days, you’d see lots of discarded cigarette butts, but I don’t remember squirrels running around with them,” Shuttleworth said in an interview with the Telegraph.

“It would be reasonable to assume that a vape would be more attractive than a normal tobacco product that’s not fruity,” he added.

Squirrels forage constantly. A brightly colored device that smells like mango or berry registers as a potential food source.

That instinct, usually a survival advantage, works against them when the “food” is made of plastic, lithium and nicotine.

The real danger behind vaping squirrels

The RSPCA warned in a 2023 Facebook post that vapes pose a potentially lethal threat to animals because they contain a variety of materials and poisonous substances including plastic, lithium and nicotine.

“Vapes are even being mistaken by animals for food and being ingested, just like this squirrel who was seen to be burying a vape,” the RSPCA added.

Squirrels chewing on vapes risk ingesting microplastics. They could also ingest nicotine, which their bodies aren’t built to process.

“They don’t encounter nicotine in the wild, so like many chemicals, it’s something you don’t want them exposed to,” Shuttleworth added.

An RSPCA spokesperson described the latest Brixton incident as a “stark reminder of the danger discarded litter poses to our wildlife.”

The problem extends beyond wild animals. The Veterinary Poisons Information Service received 680 calls about vape-related pet incidents since 2017, with 96% involving dogs, per the RSPCA.

There have been reports of pets dying after consuming vape liquid.

What you can do with this

If you vape or know people who do, the practical takeaway is straightforward: dispose of devices in sealed bins, not on the ground. A vape tossed on a sidewalk or park bench becomes a scented hazard for any animal that finds it.

And the next time one of these squirrel videos pops up in your feed, you’ll know the story beneath the joke. The footage is funny. What the animals are actually consuming is not.