A Vicious Squirrel Is Attacking the Residents of Bennington, Vermont

[cali]

By Jen Doll, Wed., Mar. 16 2011 @ 12:19PM


​Bennington, Vermont, is a historic town with a "progressive four-year liberal college" you may have heard of. It boasts numerous attractions, like antique shops, art galleries, covered bridges, walking tours. It is also home to an attack-squirrel. This is the stuff of our own college nightmares. The Bennington Banner reported from the scene:

An East Street man said he was minding his own business and shoveling snow away from the side of his house when he was attacked.

<snip>

It was a gray squirrel, said McDonald. He threw the animal off, but twice it jumped back onto his arms, delivering more scratches. Finally, it ran up a tree and McDonald retreated to his house.

After a bit of Internet research, McDonald found that squirrel attacks are rare, and that since he'd not been bitten, there was little chance of a rabies infection. But the next day the squirrel was back, attacking his neighbor, who battled it with "a blanket and a metal pole." More people have since come forward to say they've also been a victim of the squirrel, making the entire somewhat humorous situation less humorous.

<snip>

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2011/03/vicious_squirre.phphttp://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2011/03/vicious_squirre.php

[Lone_Star_Dem]

1. Stay away from her nest and she'll leave you alone

Mother squirrels get really mean when they're protecting their babies. As they're finding out.

[jbnow]

11. Doubt she has babies in March in Vermont and if it's attacking a variety

of people at various locations I doubt it's even a nest thing. People across the street from each other or down the road from each other can't all be too near the nest

[Lone_Star_Dem]

25. Actually, eastern gray squirrels first breeding season begins in January

They gestate for 45-days. It's right on schedule for this to be female nesting behavior. Which is the only reason it popped in my mind. They're also well known to be violent when they're protecting their young or when they feel threatened. I have a theory on their excessive violent behavior when they're mothering. I've hypothesized it's due to the fact that male eastern gray squirrels favor killing the young to force the doe to reenter estrus. Which has lead to a hyper-protective instinct in the mothers.

[geardaddy]

2. It probably is rabid

despite the fact that no one's been bitten.

[FSogol]

7. You can get rabies from scratches also. It doesn't have to be a bite. n/t

[geardaddy]

8. I didn't know that.

I thought it had something to do with the saliva.

Thanks!

[BobbyBoring]

3. Don't mess with mother nature

n/t

[cali]

4. since when is shoveling snow messing with mother nature?

[Voice for Peace]

5. "may just be one nasty squirrel bastard..."

[MineralMan]

6. The solution is simple:

Crosman® Pumpmaster® 706

[nc4bo]

10. !!

:rofl: :rofl:

[flamingdem]

19. Plenty of those in VT but none of the flatlanders have them just the natives nt

[MineralMan]

21. Everyone needs one, I think. I have a little air gun shooting range

in my basement. Loads of fun. I haven't had to shoot a squirrel, though. The ones in my yard are fat and happy from being fed peanuts in the shell daily. They're my emergency food store. :rofl:

[Kali]

9. it may have been raised in captivity as a baby then "set free" when it got older and mean

you know, how people think turning an unprepared rodent out after live trapping them in their house? Same deal - oh let's let Squirrly go in the park, since she has started biting little Timmy.

[WatsonT]

12. Not to justify these attacks

but in this economy everyone is getting desperate.

[Kennah]

14. Pardon me, can you help out a fellow sciuridae who's down on his luck

[Xithras]

13. I'd laugh, but...

A number of years ago I was camping with my kids near Napa when my then 9 year old daughter spotted a squirrel. She thought it would be funny to scare it and run it up a tree, but the damned thing turned the tables and started chasing HER across the campsite while making this really weird screeching sound. I was laughing at first, but ended up thumping it with a shovel because it was scaring the heck out of her and WOULD NOT stop. It wasn't just chasing her off, but was actually trying to attack her!

My daughter is 17 today, and is still terrified of squirrels. Funny, but true!

[tallahasseedem]

15. OMG!

I am practically in tears laughing at your story. Thank you for sharing! :)

[hfojvt]

26. squirrels do have seriously sharp claws and are quick too

Who knows, the squirrel might have had rabies, or babies that it was defending. They always make a chattering noise when they are threatened by cats or dogs or birds.

[drm604]

16. We're all laughing but the way this squirrel is acting it may be rabid

and should be eliminated.

[RebelOne]

27. Seems like it to me. I am an animal lover

and a vegetarian, but if that little critter attacked me, I would dispatch it to squirrel heaven.

[david_vincent]

17. There is nothing progressive about Bennington College

Bennington's president is a tyrant who showed her true colors in 1994, when she fired dozens of faculty, thereby involving Bennington in a legal battle that dragged on for years.

See, esp. pgs. 5 - 6:

www.coedu.usf.edu/~dorn/Dorn_to_Paveza.rtf


Bennington is one of the most wildly over-rated colleges in the country, still basking in the afterglow of the fame it found for being, for several years, the most expensive college in the country. As if that's an indicator of anything other than how much it costs. Some fools think it is.

[DefenseLawyer]

18. Where is moose?

[pokerfan]

20. Squirrels are a clear and present danger

One tried to burn down a city a couple of years ago...

A squirrel ignited a fiery chain reaction that led to a power line collapse, car fire, natural gas fire and a power outage in northwest Spokane Wednesday morning.

It all started at 8:22 a.m. in the 4900 block of North Hartley at Wellesley when, according to Avista investigators, a squirrel came in contact with a transformer. That single action set in motion a chain of events.

First, the power line burned through causing the line to fall to the ground and come into contact with a metal fence and a car. The car caught on fire. The fence, meanwhile, was energized by the fallen power line and the electricity was conducted underground to a natural gas pipeline which in turn burned through and started an underground natural gas fire which burned up to two gas meters at nearby houses.

http://www.tindog.com/2008/10/14/squirrel-uprising-2-the-revenge

[Name removed]

22. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[pansypoo53219]

23. THE SQUIRREL MENACE!

beware the squirrel menace.

[teamster633]

24. sinister intentions

and sharp claws...