A guide to the Saint Stephen’s ‘campus pets’

Squirrels may just be the most generic form of wildlife found on campus. Our campus squirrels exhibit some very interesting behavior such as going up so close to students that they are in an arm's reach. Many of them reside around the campus in the trees and by the bayou, but when they are looking for a quick snack, they visit the lunch loggia and search through the yummy items left behind by stud...

If you ever have time to visit the bayou, you may be surprised by all the wildlife that can be found both in and out of the water. Our Bayou, being desolate and calm, “is a perfect nursery area for manatees,” Mrs. Shields says. Many manatees have been known to come into our boyau to take care of their newborn calves.  Mrs. Shields recalls that “more often than not, Mr. Jenson [our Admission...

If you ever paid attention to the field below the lunch Loggia, you may have noticed some of the feral cats strolling around campus. Long before the new upper and middle school buildings were constructed, the area was filled with thick brush and trees. Many feral cats made this their home. Landscapers would occasionally come upon litters of abandoned kittens, who they would immediately turn over to ...

The elusive red-shouldered hawk can be seen on campus if you are looking in the right places. Many days the campus-hawk sits in the tree right outside the US large library windows. Many confuse this hawk as the “campus falcon,” but what separates a falcon from a hawk is the notch on the beak of a falcon and falcons are generally smaller.  Mrs. Pommer hasn’t seen the hawk since Christmas break. “I h...

Now for the greatest pet of all— Sunny, our campus Golden Retriever.  Whenever Sunny comes bounding down the hall, students’ hearts fill with joy.  All of their stress just melts away.   Wait - Sonny doesn’t exist! We don’t have a campus dog!  But we should! Research carried out at the Yale Innovative Interactions Lab has shown that because dogs have co-evolved with humans over the ...