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Residents of a Queens neighborhood are facing a similar threat, reports the AP. Residents of the Rego Park neighborhood in New York City say an aggressive squirrel has jumped on them and bitten them in recent weeks, WCBS reported on Wednesday. Micheline Frederick points to a bruise on her wrist where she says the squirrel lands on her and then lowers its teeth into her fingers and hand. “We’re struggling in the snow and there’s blood everywhere and my fingers are chewing and it will not loosen,” Frederick said. “Eventually it just stopped and there I was a big bloody mess.”
According to a photo she took after the attack, a snow pool is covered in blood. “It was an MMA cage match! And I lost!” Two other neighbors told WCBS that the squirrel had jumped on them, apparently unconsciously. “These squirrels are aggressively chasing people,” Vinati Singh said. The health department advised neighbors to rent a licensed trap, but the large metal traps had not yet caught any squirrels. The reason for the aggressive behavior is not clear. Small rodents such as squirrels rarely test positive for rabies and according to the CDC are not known to have transmitted it to humans.
(Read more squirrel stories.)