The year was 2015—a simpler time. Drake and Future had just releasedWhat A Time To Be Alivewhen a lone rat was caught carrying a big ol’ slice of pizza down the subway stairs. Pizza Rat quickly became the metaphorical embodiment of the New York City struggle: rushing to the subway, trying to squeeze a meal in between point A and point B, taking on things impossibly too big for you to handle, and living in a place where rats outnumber humans four-to-one.
Even with the ephemeral nature of the internet, Pizza Rat will live on forever thanks to its many duplicates, memes, and Halloween costumes. But now it’s 2018, and people are looking for a rodent to take over the viral throne and represent us all in this time of national #struggle. Thus I present to you, Wing Squirrel.
Wing Squirrel was introduced to the world by Daily Show producer Jocelyn Conn, who tweeted “Wing squirrel is the new pizza rat. Pls RT to help me pay for my children’s education.”
Others joined in on the madness, one dubbing the phenomenon “squicken.” I didn’t even know squirrels ate meat (a quick google revealed most rodents are indeed omnivores), but I can relate to the desperation on its face as the animal gnaws on whatever is left on the bone. Hey, you take what you can get.
I can’t say this squirrel impresses me enough to be labeled the “new” Pizza Rat, but it deserves its viral moment in the [food] + [urban pest] category, as Daily Dot points out.
