Vancouver Secrets

Banff Squirrel Photo Goes Viral

An Alberta ground squirrel is poised to become Canada’s most famous animal — at least for a week or two — after the creature inserted itself hilariously into a timed photo being taken by an American couple at a lake in Banff National Park.

The resulting image, which features the upright squirrel staring boldly into the camera while the couple laughs in the background, is getting a lot of Internet attention after it was splashed on a host of media websites and newspapers around the world this week.

“We had our camera set up on some rocks and were getting ready to take the picture when this curious little ground squirrel appeared, became intrigued with the sound of the focusing camera and popped right into our shot,” Minnesota resident Melissa Brandts told National Geographic, which selected the shot as its photo of the day on its nationalgeographic.com website Thursday.

“A once-in-a-lifetime moment! We were laughing about this little guy for days!”

In less than a week, the Crasher Squirrel, as it’s become known, has stormed the internet.

Photoshop enthusiasts have added the furry scene-stealer to family portraits, famous paintings, and even to the top of the Queen’s hat with a pile of nuts.

Now it’s gone viral and the ‘gopher’ is showing up everywhere: