Nicholls State University has faced two campus power outages caused by curious squirrels within the past five months.

The initial outage originated at the substation near the softball field on Nov. 22, 2024. It affected the majority of Nicholls’ campus. 

A squirrel chewed through the ground wire that kept the power equipment secure. Jerad David, the director of communications and legislative affairs, said this action “tripped everything and shut the power down”.

“That poor squirrel met his maker,” David said.

The second outage occurred on March 20, 2025, when another squirrel chewed through the campus’ main feed near the MAX Charter School. This event caused a campus-wide power outage. The squirrel died in the process.

Some students speculated an additional power outage in fall 2024 was caused by a squirrel. David clarified that the outage was caused by poor weather conditions, not a squirrel.

According to David, Nicholls’ power is sourced by Entergy on its own grid separate from the surrounding city. He said the solution remains unclear and Nicholls does not have plans to alter their wiring systems at this time.

“I do not know if there is a solution to the rogue squirrels eating through our wires,” David said. “It seems like a freak problem to have.”

However, he added that Nicholls’ contacts at Entergy communicated they see squirrels causing power outages more often than people would think.