Just like us gluttonous humans, animals love pizza. Even though humans tend to spring for more ridiculous toppings like pineapple and 23 carat gold flakes for £500 (around $700), we are all united by this sacred food. Our awareness of animals eating pizza all started with a New York City-based rodent otherwise known as Pizza Rat, who simultaneously won our hearts and our disgust by carrying a slice of pizza down some stairs in a subway station. It even inspired a spin off called Pizza Racoon.
Now, Chicago is fighting back with a perhaps cuter alternative to a rat: Pizza Squirrel. Twitter user Melissa McEwen’s tweeted a photo taken by her friend Andrew Goodman of a squirrel casually eating pizza crust-first in a tree with the caption "Chicago’s own pizza rodent: pizza squirrel."
Though the natural environment proves a much cleaner and safer alternative to a filthy subway station, the squirrel appears to be betraying its home city by not even indulging in a deep dish pizza pie. How is it supposed to be a formidable threat to the Pizza Rat when it’s ashamed of a dish uniting and symbolizing Chicago?
The troubling and intriguing question that remains is: Where can American society go from here? Will California join the Pizza Animal Olympics by having a shrew eat a gluten free vegan pizza? Will a cow take a selfie of itself eating pizza in rural Indiana? Will Canada join in and have Justin Trudeau eat extremely bland pizza? 2016 may have some interesting answers in store.
