Mad Squirrel attacks

[wendy]

This happened in Winter Park which is pretty much Orlando, FL.

'Attack squirrel' meets untimely end
Christopher Sherman
Sentinel Staff Writer

August 9, 2006

WINTER PARK -- This squirrel was nuts.

It survived a pounding by a protective dad and even pepper spray from Winter Park police. But the large male squirrel met its match Tuesday in south Central Park when three city employees armed with a trash pincher and a box ended the animal's seven-day rampage.

James Klute hopes he and his 3-year-old son, Tristen, were its last victims.

They were just kicking the soccer ball around the park Friday evening, "minding our own business," when the brown-colored squirrel ran from a pine.

It was walking a little low, not normally, but Klute didn't think anything of it until it jumped Tristen.

"It got within four feet and just latched onto my son's calf," said Klute, 31. His son went down in a ball as the squirrel climbed onto his chest. It left two puncture wounds on his calf that looked like a small dog bite, Klute said.

The squirrel's mistake was coming after Dad.

"I got it away and pounded it for a while," Klute said of the encounter. "It acted like no other animal I've ever seen."

Winter Park officials said the squirrel died in their custody of unknown causes Tuesday and will be tested for rabies. The results will not be known for about a week.

In the meantime, anyone who had a similar run-in is encouraged to seek treatment from a doctor as a precaution. Tristen started his monthlong rabies treatment Tuesday.

Klute was unaware that two nights before, a squirrel had attacked two women, also at the south end of Central Park. When police responded, the squirrel charged them.

"It was subsequently pepper-sprayed and retreated into its tree again," Officer Danielle McCoy wrote in her report.

Moments later, "an unidentified female was walking through the park, and Officer [Carlos] Caldron saw the squirrel wait for the woman to pass and then charge at the woman from behind," according to McCoy's report.

"Officer Caldron shouted to warn the woman of the impending attack, but moments too late. . . . The woman was swatting to get the squirrel off, but was unable. Officer Caldron leapt into action, swatting the squirrel from the female."

Animal control put out a trap last week, and the city put up warning signs Tuesday.

Klute had returned to the park each day hoping to lure the squirrel out again so it could be tested.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said small rodents such as squirrels and mice are "almost never found to be infected with rabies and have not been known to cause rabies among humans in the United States."

Christopher Sherman can be reached at csherman@orlandosentinel.com or 407-650-6361.

[wendy]

A squirrel gone wild
Previous attacks surface in Winter Park Victims question why the aggressive rodent was allowed to run free in Central Park for a week.

Christopher Sherman
Sentinel Staff Writer

August 10, 2006

WINTER PARK -- Several more victims of a squirrel that terrorized Central Park came forward Wednesday after hearing about its capture.

With their own tales of unprovoked fury, they expressed frustration that the raging rodent was able to attack so many before being caught.

Three city employees armed with a litter grabber Tuesday nabbed the animal, which died and is being tested for rabies.

City officials were confident they had their squirrel.

But one man said the seven-day rampage could have ended much sooner.

Dylan Osborne, 19, of Longwood said he had trapped the squirrel for two hours under a bucket on Aug. 3 but released it when county animal-services workers didn't show up.

He and some friends had been celebrating a birthday near the park's fountain when the squirrel approached one of them.

"It just all of the sudden jumped on her," he said. It latched onto her leg and bit her. She flung the critter away, but it came back for an assault on her shoes, left by the fountain.

Osborne smacked it with a shoe, but that only seemed to anger the animal. "It started getting in attack position toward me," he said. So he grabbed the birthday-cake box and caught the squirrel in midflight.

A friend called Orange County Animal Services and was told someone would come out. After a half-hour, the squirrel began to chew its way out of the box. A restaurant across the street lent them a bucket.

For the next two hours, "we were there taking turns sitting on the bucket," Osborne said.

They called animal services again and were told someone had been dispatched.

When Osborne's father, Lance, also called the county, he said they told him they didn't handle squirrel bites.

"I was furious," Lance Osborne said. "My son basically sat on top of this squirrel on a cake box and on a bucket in downtown Winter Park, and no one did anything about it."

Dil Luther, assistant manager for the animal-services division, said Wednesday that he was not aware of the case but would check the records.

"Normally we don't respond to squirrels," Luther said.

Animal services had gone to the park the night before and planned to set a trap the morning of Aug. 3, according to a police report from a previous bite incident in which officers pepper-sprayed the squirrel but lost him.

Police Lt. Wayne Farrell said they usually write reports for animal bites but turn over all animal issues to county animal services.

Alisa Cox thinks her 3-year-old son, Carson, was one of the squirrel's next victims.

The night of Aug. 3, Cox was walking on the sidewalk with her sister, cousin and son when they saw a woman running toward them with a squirrel hot on her tail.

At first they giggled at the petite pursuer. But before they knew it, the squirrel set upon Carson's leg, Cox said.

Cox's cousin picked up Carson and tried to shake the squirrel loose. Then Cox's sister hit it, grabbed it and flung it about five feet. Cox said her son was bitten several times, had a 2-inch gash on his leg and was bleeding profusely.

Carson is scheduled to get the third of a half-dozen shots Friday, Cox said.

"He's just so terrified," she said. "He told his daddy, 'I want you to go back there and run him over with the car.' "

News of the other attacks bothered James Klute when he heard about them Wednesday. His 3-year-old son, Tristen, was bitten Friday night on the calf while they were kicking a soccer ball in the park.

"All it does is fuel my fires that it's been going on for a full week," said Klute, of Winter Park. "Once it happens once, someone should go out and do something."

But before Klute stomped him, the tough squirrel had already survived a police pepper-spraying, Osborne's bucket detention -- and Fern Ochakoff's purse.

Ochakoff was sharing a park bench with friend Jim Hindman on the evening of Aug. 1 when a squirrel clamped onto Hindman's right arm, then his left, biting and scratching.

"The squirrel then went after me," Ochakoff said. "I was fortunate enough to have had my purse with me, to ward him off."

Hindman got a tetanus shot and some antibiotics that night.

Said Ochakoff: "It looked like a machete had gotten him. I mean, that's how much blood was coming from both arms."

Christopher Sherman can be reached at csherman@orlandosentinel.com or 407-650-6361.

[wendy]

No rabies in squirrel suspected in attacks
Christopher Sherman
Sentinel Staff Writer

August 10, 2006, 5:45 PM EDT

WINTER PARK -- The squirrel believed to have left terrified children, scratched adults and frustrated parents in the wake of its week-long rampage did not have rabies, county health officials announced today.

"That particular squirrel had no rabies whatsoever," said Orange County Health Department epidemiologist Bill Toth, of the squirrel city park employees captured Tuesday. The results came back from a state lab in Jacksonville Thursday afternoon.

At least seven people were attacked by an abnormally aggressive male squirrel in Central Park between Aug. 1 and Aug. 4.

Those who started rabies treatment or who had children who did, said they would continue with the shots -- just in case.

"I'm not going to take any chances that it could have been another squirrel," said Alisa Cox of Longwood, whose 3-year-old son Carson was bitten Aug. 3. "My son's not going to be the first in history to get it from a squirrel."

[Teresa]

Well, he wouldn't be...
"The day the squirrel went berserk
in the first South Baptist Church in Pascaguola,Mississippi"
--Ray Stevens' song

[Evan G]

That's NUTS!

(sorry I could not help it)

Good story though, strange, very strange!

I wonder if the squirrel been in siberia lately?

[Nico]

[Wayne Harrison]

[Evan G]

That is just scary, I think I dated her.

Just kidding of course!

[graveleye]

ahh... my squirrells are so afraid. I wait by the back door looking for them. When I see one I let the family know and they open the door. Before I can get down the stairs the squirrell is up a tree, darnit. Sometimes I will sit by the porch and wait for them to return. They never do. SIGH...

Then I get thirsty and scratch the door to come back indside..

...they'll be back, oh yes, they'll be back, and this time, I'll be ready.

[Wayne Harrison]

A stunned couple returned from a weekend break to find their house had been ruined by a squirrel.

Retired engineer Alan White, 67, and his wife Janice, 65, came home to find their lounge ransacked, causing damage estimated at thousands of pounds.

The pair initially feared burglars had broken into their Cheltenham home.

But a trapped squirrel had tried chewing through the window frames and tore the curtain and settee to shreds in a desperate attempt to escape.

<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/gloucestershire/4798739.stm">BBC Report</a>

[cob]

ahh... my squirrells are so afraid. I wait by the back door looking for them. When I see one I let the family know and they open the door. Before I can get down the stairs the squirrell is up a tree, darnit. Sometimes I will sit by the porch and wait for them to return. They never do. SIGH...

My squirrels are so terrified they have taken to cutting off their tails!

We have some bird seed robbin' squirrels, and if I am real quiet, and they are facing the other way, I can get out the back door, sneak up behind them, and YANK their tails!!! You should see them run. They don't stop until the next county. The first time my girl freind saw me do that she just about peed her pants! A couple weeks after I started the tail yankin' we had one show up without. Micky figured it had been so psychologically damaged, he just had his tail lopped off.

Great fun. I recommend it highly.

tom

[wendy]

Growing up in middle GA we had a squirrel in the backyard I named Frankie. He would sit on the fence and watch us eat dinner, when we were done, he would come down and scratch on the screen door. We would open the door and hand it some shelled pecans. We have a photo somewhere of me hand feeding it. I was maybe 6 or 7. He would even hang out with me in the backyard when I would swing.

When I worked at Disney World a few years ago we had some squirrels that would hang out in the employee break area behind our restaurant. One we called momma squirrel, she was forever pregnant, looked like she swallowed a tennis ball. She would sit in my lap and eat peanuts. Even tried to pry open my fingers once to see if I had anymore in my hands. But there was also a young male squirrel we named Fling. He was insane. He would fling from the tree, bounce off of 2 or 3 people's heads and backs, do a twirl around the umbrella pole on the table, and jump onto the next building. Here we are all sitting around, and then it was madness for 30 seconds while we were used as spring boards for him.

I don't even want to get into when we watched a bunch of little boy squirrels get curious about each others bodies one day. Now that was freaky. But then again, it was at Disney World.

[CKB69]

http://rjdudley.com/media/squirrel_launcher.wmv

[Squirrel Girl]

http://rjdudley.com/media/squirrel_launcher.wmv

I don't think they can claim "No squirrels were harmed in the making of this video"