VANCOUVER — A stealthy selfie has turned a B.C. woman into an instant Internet sensation.
At one million views and counting, the “selfie with a squirrel” Internet posting by Stacey Wallace is international news.
“In order to get the selfie, I laid on the ground metres away from the squirrel and slowly crawled toward him until I got close enough so I could take a picture,” Wallace told Britain’s Daily Mail.
With stealth-like skill at squirrel-friendly Lightning Lakes, Wallace made her way to the squirrel’s burrow, then fired away when the squirrel popped up.
The Manning Park photo has created a huge range of animal reactions, with Reddit viewers debating — at length — the identity of the animal in question.
Gopher, prairie dog, chipmunk, marmot, Columbian ground squirrel: They have all been mentioned, along with the inevitable puns.
For example: “If you get a chance, you have to gopher it.”
There were also plenty of responses from fans of the movie Caddyshack, which features a maniacal Bill Murray trying to save his golf course from hole-digging gophers.
“I’m preeetty sure that’s Bill Murray in the background,” another person posted. “Might be a good time to move along.”
Wallace is as surprised as anyone by the massive response.
“I know its not hard-hitting news, but it’s cute and I thought it would be a good tourist piece for [E.C.] Manning [Provincial] Park,” Wallace told The Province.
Boy, was it ever. A million would-be visitors now know they can get up close and personal with a four-legged friend at Manning Park, east of Hope.
