(TJNNEWS.COM) If you needed more proof that 2020 has been the most bizarre year in modern times, look no further than Rego Park in Queens, NY.
The neighborhood, made famous from the sitcom ” King of Queens”, is now home to attack squirrels.
According to the local Patch website, at least five people in the neighborhood have been bitten or scratched by squirrels on 65th Road and 65th Drive within the last month. One woman who spoke to the reporter was forced to seek treatment at a nearby hospital for squirrel bites and scratches after one such attack, which began when she opened her front door to let in a team of movers, and the squirrel lunged at her.
Patch continued:
Here’s more from Patch:
They(victims) include Micheline Frederick, who had to go to the hospital after a squirrel attack so vicious that it left her hands and arms covered with bites – and her snowy front yard stained with blood. “He was angry and he was vicious,” Frederick told Patch of the Dec. 21 attack.
“This was more than just a bite. This thing was fighting with me.” Frederick said she was holding her front door open for two movers when the squirrel ran up to her and scurried up her leg. She threw the squirrel off of her, but it pounced back onto her and started biting and scratching her.
The attack left her pinky finger “pretty chewed up” and her hand bruised black and blue for days, she said. She had at least eight bites, prompting physicians at a nearby urgent care center to send her to the emergency room for rabies shots. “Because I had so many, they wanted to be safe rather than sorry,” she said. The NYC Department of Health says squirrels are rarely infected with rabies. Since the agency started tracking New York City rabies cases in 1992, it has never identified a case of a squirrel with the disease. With rabies being an unlikely, but not impossible, explanation, Rego Park residents say the city has declined to intervene.
Rego Park resident Vinati Singh told Patch there seem to be at least three squirrels that are acting “erratically and aggressively.” Her husband was attacked two weeks ago.
“Clearly, it’s an unsafe situation for us,” Singh said.
Singh’s husband was attacked while walking up to their home on 65th Drive. He was in the backyard when a squirrel jumped on his foot and tried to scamper up his leg, Singh said.
He shook his leg to kick the squirrel off. Then, the riled-up rodent climbed atop a bicycle outside their house and jumped onto him, teeth and claws bared.
Skedaddle wildlife blog explains :
Typically, squirrels are docile animals and not prone to attack people. Many find comfort in watching the antics of these small animals and do not wish them any harm. Unfortunately, wild animals do not understand a person’s intentions and will react more with instinct and perception. While you may not think of yourself as a threat, a squirrel may perceive that danger is imminent, leading to an altercation. Thankfully, these current attacks are rare, but when they happen, it is for one of three reasons: food, fear, rabies.
Aggression in the rodent is not entirely unheard of, experts advise not to feed squirrels or approach them. Feeding is the most significant reason for attacks because, after repeated instances, it eliminates the squirrel’s fear of humans. Without a natural fear of people, squirrels feel confident enough to intimidate and attack. Evidently, the Rego Park squirrel’s are fearless.
Authorities have not determined exactly why these hyper-aggressive squirrels are attacking
