16ga.com ~ View topic - See!!? More people need to hunt them squirrels!!

Mean Squirrel Attacks Pa. Letter Carrier

The Associated Press

OIL CITY, Pa. - Letter carriers occasionally have to deal with angry dogs or maybe even a spider's nest in a mailbox, but a mean squirrel? Barb Dougherty, a 30-year Postal Service employee, said she was attacked and bitten Monday by a squirrel while delivering mail in Oil City, about 75 miles north of Pittsburgh.

"It was a freak thing. It was traumatic," Dougherty told The Derrick in Oil City. "I saw it there on the porch, put the mail in the box and turned to walk away and it jumped on me."

The animal ran up her leg and onto her back, she said.

"I eventually got a hold of the tail and pulled it off me," Dougherty said. "No one was home at the house where I was delivering the mail, but the neighbor lady heard me screaming and came over."

An ambulance took Dougherty to the hospital, where she was treated for cuts and scratches. The squirrel was killed with a BB gun and sent to a lab to be tested for rabies. Dougherty was given the first series of rabies shots as a precaution.

Postal officials said the attack is extraordinary.

"In about 230 years of postal history, I bet it is not the first, but I've personally never heard of another squirrel biting," said Steve Kochersperger, spokesman for the Erie district.

Squirrels do not frequently bite people, said Regis Senko, who works for the Pennsylvania Game Commission.

Steve Jolley, a Postal Service manager in Oil City, said, "We are not issuing a squirrel alert, but everyone is aware of the incident."

---

Information from: The Derrick, http://www.thederrick.com

November 1, 2006 5:12 PM

Member Joined: 08 Nov 2005 Posts: 3438 Location: Illinois

Treerats----early season 16ga. ,late season 16ga.-------oh yeah a .22 once in a while to keep the ammo companies in business Twisted Evil

In many parts of the country (esp here in ARK) we are experiencing an all time high rabies threat. I suspect a lot of it has to do (around here) that pelts are virtually worthless and there seems to be a coon in every tree. I have seen a half a dozen dead on the road right here in Jonesboro in the last couple of weeks. We have had more rabies cases reported in the last two or three years than the previous twenty.

So be careful out there. any wild animal that exhibits any signs of agression is to be avoided at all costs and dispatched if convenient. Certainly agressive wild animal behaviour should be reported to local animal control officials. Agression in wild animals, especially samll ones is hardly ever normal and should be taken seriously. While we have an antidote for rabies, you have about 72 hours to start treatment. If there is any doubt, take the shots and do your guessing later. Not one person infected with rabies who has not received proper treatment has survived ( I got this statistic from a local doctor (and hunter) who should know. At any rate, it is dangerous and should not be ignored.

Eventually, some sort of distemper will control our currently booming coon population, but still be careful and don't even clean any animal suspected of being rabid.

Joined: 19 Jun 2004 Posts: 1480 Location: Mpls, MN.

Simply in the interest of internet accuracy, the doctor/hunter is wrong. There have been 7 documented human survival cases involving rabies. Three are represented from the 1940s-1960s, but the exact reasons for survival are not clearly documented or understood. Three cases were from the 1970s, and were in patients who received duck embryo or suckling mouse brain vaccines prior to exposure to the rabies virus. And the last (2004) involved a Wisconsin female, exposed 1 month prior to the administration of anti-virus who was chemically induced into a one week coma at that time, who has since recovered.See www.emedicine.com for more, but, the advice to avoid exposure and seek immediate treatment is excellent, all the same.
Best,
Ted

There has been a rabies threat here in Connecticut for quite some time, and every once in while [EOIW] someone is attacked, or sees an infected animal. The most recent was a coyote in the past 2 weeks.

When my boys were younger, I would fell and cut firewood in the state forest, participating in a fuelwood program. They would be playing in the woods until it was time to load. We would practice "bad animal" drills there and at home until I was sure that it was automatic. We did not need to use the drill, but even so, I know of two specific incidents within 2 miles of home.

Joined: 19 Jun 2004 Posts: 1480 Location: Mpls, MN.

That is such a great idea, thanks for sharing it here.
Best,
Ted