We know squirrels to be cute and cuddly, and if you ever happen to stroll through the Company’s Gardens in Cape Town, you’ll find quite a few of these critters roaming around in search of nuts. You might have even fed a few squirrels, and the last thing you’d expect is for them to attack.
However, a town in Wales experienced a horrific incident when 18 residents and their animals were attacked by a sharp-toothed, grey-haired squirrel.
According to Evening Standard, residents of Buckley, North Wales were too terrified to leave their homes as the squirrel, whom they nicknamed Stripe after the vicious character in the film Gremlins, attacked homeowners on their patios and in their gardens, sending some to the emergency room.
“Warning, vicious squirrel that attacks,” Nicola Crowther wrote on December 26 in the Buckley Residents Facebook Group. Crowther posted a zoomed-in, blurry shot of the squirrel and said that she and multiple friends had been bitten.
“It’s also attacked my two Bengals, who fear nothing, and my neighbours’ Bengal cats,” she wrote. “Dare not go out of my house, as it’s lurking. I’m afraid it needs shooting.”
Scott Felton, another resident, said he was smoking a cigarette on his porch when Stripe attacked him.
“I thought it wanted feeding but it bit me before I even had a chance,” Felton wrote in the Facebook group.
“I wouldn’t normally put something up like (post onto Facebook) but it was just so random and it well hurt. Had to go to the hospital to get a jab. Not that I wanted to,” he added.
The squirrel was reported to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animal (RSPCA), who euthanised Spike, reports Business Insider. Due to changes in the legislation in 2019, it would have been illegal to release the grey squirrel back into the wild.
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