Anybody who crosses The Oval may not notice Raymond Wilke as he walks slowly from University Hall toward the Main Library.

His frame is small, with white hair peeking through his red Ohio State hat. Dark glasses hide his eyes from the sun. His plastic bag rustles in the wind.

It is filled with treats for the squirrels that live on campus. Wilke has been feeding the squirrels since 1990. He works as a janitor at Ohio State, and before going to work he takes an hour to feed the squirrels around the library.

The squirrels seem to love Wilke. With a click of his tongue, the squirrels run to him to receive their treats.

“I just enjoy feeding the squirrels,” Wilke said.

Wilke is from Columbus and has lived here his whole life. He comes to the library at noon, the best time to feed the squirrels, and feeds them every day except Saturday. Although squirrels mostly eat acorns, walnuts and maple seeds, they still love the peanuts Wilke throws them.

“He is a very cool guy, and he is nuts about squirrels,” said Eric Jenkins, a senior in history. “That is why I like watching him.”

The kind of squirrel that resides on and around campus is the Eastern gray squirrel. They live in nut-bearing trees like the oaks found in front of the library, said John Harder, associate professor of the Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology. On average, squirrels live to be about 6 years old. Most Eastern gray squirrels are black, red and gray in color.

Wilke said not too many people say anything to him about feeding the squirrels, but a few students around campus do not appreciate their presence.

Squirrels are part of the rodent family, but they are beneficial to the campus.

They store food for the winter by burying nuts to hide them from other animals, but they cannot find all the nuts they bury, so they actually plant trees and build the forest that feeds them.

As Wilke makes his way toward his feeding duties, a tiny squirrel scampers over within a foot of him and stands on his tail. Wilke chuckles delightedly and tosses a peanut to him. The squirrel takes the shell off and throws it aside while eating the nut inside.

“It just makes me happy to see them fed,” Wilke said, as he turned to throw more nuts at the squirrels.