http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2015/12/04/novato-couple-recount-terrifying-squirrel-attack/
Novato Couple Recount Terrifying Squirrel Attack
December 4, 2015
NOVATO (CBS-SF) - The last thing Richard Williams expected when he started doing chores in the garage of his Novato home the day after Thanksgiving was that he would soon be in a life-and-death battle with a crazed squirrel.
The 87-year-old Williams said the squirrel that has been terrorizing the neighborhood slipped into the garage through an open door.
"He charged me and jumped, and from then on, the battle started," he told KPIX CBS 5.
The squirrel turned Williams' head, arm and legs bloody. It also smashed his glasses.
"He was really vicious. He was clawing and scratching," he said. "I was trying to get him off. Every time I'd get him off, he'd jump back up again."
His 83-year-old wife, Norma, heard his screams and raced to his aid. When she saw her bloodied husband, she picked up a broom and joined the battle.
"I grabbed the broom, picked it up," she said. "I guess I hit the squirrel with it."
Still the attack continued.
"And then he jumped her," Richard Williams said. "I was able to grab him by the tail, threw him on the garage floor and he seemed stunned."
The squirrel then raced off and a neighbor came to the couple's aid, bringing them to a hospital for treatment of their wounds.
Both were bandaged up and given dozens of shots including vaccines for rabies and tetanus.
The same squirrel is suspected of attacking five others in the last two weeks in the surrounding neighborhood including a teacher and student at Pleasant Valley Elementary.
Animal control officers have been patrolling the area, searching for the squirrel. Warning flyers have also been posted.
>>2013406
mmm rabbies
>It also smashed his glasses.
gimme your lunch money, dweeb
>>2013412
If it was rabid, it'd be dead by now if it has been attacking people for two weeks.
>>2013414
that explains the rabies vaccine they administered, right?
I mean surely some anon on 4chan knows more than a medical doctor does about rabies.
>>2013429
what do you think is a more likely scenario?
a) patient is brought to ER, has been attacked by an animal. the ER doctor, working 60 hours a week, enjoys reading the local news of what goes on in fucking novato, CA (if you've ever been there, you know that's literally nothing). recognizes that this one squirrel most likely doesn't have rabies judging from the timespan of the series of attacks, decides not to apply vaccine
b) doctor doesn't know about the squirrel, doesn't give a shit, and the opportunity cost of administering a vaccine as a precautionary measure is extremely low
>>2013451
what if it wasn't the same squirrel the entire 2 weeks?
what if, contrary to your interpretation of Wikipedia, the etiology and progression of a disease doesn't always follow a set timetable?
what if... and I know this is a big one... what if you're actually an uneducated person that doesn't really know how long the various behavioral stages of rabies might last but just assumes it ALWAYS progresses at the same pace in every creature at every time?
a view of nature so simple we'd call the person holding it a simpleton?
>>2013414
>>2013429
When I was 8, I got bit by a dog (big mix-breed Lab type) while riding my bike and my mom took me to the emergency room, where the wet-behind-the-ears young doctor recommended rabies shots (after giving me a tetanus shot).
Needless to say, I flipped out and started crying my head off as at the time, (this was 1976) this was a series of shots (20 or something) in the stomach.
My mom refused the treatment and took me to our family doctor the next day and he gave me another tetanus shot and I’m still here today. (I think Doogie Howser just wanted to try the procedure on a live patient…)
The point being; rabies shot are administered even if it’s unknown if the animal has/had rabies or not.
>>2013454
you can be pretty sure a squirrel attacking people for no reason has rabies.
some other viral or bacterial encephalitis or meningitis might cause the same behavior, but rabies is far more likely.
>>2013406
>Animal control officers have been patrolling the area, searching for the squirrel. Warning flyers have also been posted.
This is fucking funny.
>>2013483
You see them all the time in the states. The ones in the cities will come up and eat out of your hand. Squirrels in the woods will sit in a tree right next to you and scream at you.
They do get pretty shy when you have a gun though. They seem to know what that's all about. Shuts them right up.
>>2013453
i wasn't trying to speak to the actual likelihood of that particular squirrel having rabies. the point (since you seem to have missed it) was that regardless of the circumstances, a squirrel attacking someone is going to warrant a rabies shot out of principle. i just tripped over myself trying to be witty. it happens, i guess.
>>2013483
We have a bunch of different types of squirrels but we do have a few varieties that are just more noticable. The eastern gray squirrel has become really common in urban areas. It's also huge and gives no fucks. Red and douglas squirrels like to chill in the woods and yell at passerbys. There's a bunch of others but they're less common, nocturnal, or just shy of humans.
there was this one park in chicago I went to that was just overrun with squirrels. imagine several hundred squirrels living on a football field sized park.
>>2013483
Actually I'm curious what kind of squirrels live in bugguy land/europe. I know that some of our squirrels have spread over to europe/vice versa.
Yeah, don't fuck with the big gray squirrels. I live in TN and I've seen a few in rural areas get nearly cat size.
>>2013524
Red squirrels where I live too. I've personally never really understood why some want to shoot them (squirrels), all I've seen is ones that are very timid and no trouble at all.
I guess now I understand.
>>2013454
>>2013458
>>2013509
By all means if you are bitten by a wild animal, go get your shots. I even got them when I was bitten by a raccoon I had trapped to relocate, just be sure. I didn't think it was rabid but I wasn't going to take that chance.
I'm just pointing out that the squirrel would have been dead by now, or too far gone to attack the old man with as much energy, vigor and coordination as it had. Rabies is a real threat but an aggressive animal does not = rabies.
Vids related.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b20HvB2aES4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8fbAFOMTp4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guYU1JDE_jM
>>2013483
It largely depends on the area but even in rural areas you can get pretty close to grey squirrels. They are easily 'tamed' enough where you can get them to sit on your lap by feeding them. In cities especially, if you just stop near them they come right up and start crawling on you.
Grey squirrels are also very territorial. We had some in the tree next to my window and they'd throw acorns and scream at me every time I walked outside. For the most part they aren't dangerous but being so territorial, you're bound to get the ones that truly crawled up from the depths of hell.
Where I am In montreal I see at least 10 squirrels every day
around here squirrels will run away if you get within twenty feet of them, but in DC you could pick a squirrel up and put it in your pocket if you wanted to
>>2013690
I assume you mean 'furious stage', but you can still obviously tell something is wrong with the animal and it's not solely aggression because their brain is already deteriorating, affecting both behavior, coordination and response to stimuli. Early furious stage includes the bizarre behavior.
>>2013652
>>2013644
please note that there is more than one gray squirrel. the western gray squirrel is listed as threatened in several states along the west coast- so don't shoot it please! Shoot the easterns all you like.
>>2013699
"furious stage" isn't a thing.
rabies presents either as furious rabies or as paralytic rabies.
these aren't stages, they're just descriptions of how the disease affects the victim. If the animal isn't paralyzed or becoming paralyzed then it's got furious rabies.
Just so you guys know, small mammals almost never carry rabies and there has never been a case of them infecting a human with rabies in the US. The only exception are woodchucks.
So if you're bitten by a squirrel acting otherwise normally, they won't give you a rabies shot.
If you're bitten by a squirrel acting abnormally, like in this case, they will just to be safe.
>>2014068
>bats aren't small mammals
thank you, Calvin
>>2014068
all endotherms can carry rabies famiglia
Opossum cannot carry rabies. They're body temp is wrong. They're also incredibly cute!
Always call animal control if you see an animal acting abnormally. Either that or just kill it from a distance. My dad took out a rabid cat with his bow and then buried it DEEP so that nothing else would get infected with it. He didn't even keep the arrow. It's down in the ground with the dead rabid cat.
>>2014140
>Opossum cannot carry rabies
at least two people in the US are known to have died from rabies contracted from an opossum. Rabid opossums are found every year, and pretty much all over their range.
>>2014146
Link this please. Everything I've read before now says that it's incredibly unlikely for an opossum to carry rabies.
>>2014185
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabies_in_animals#Opossums
i was creeped out a few weeks ago when some squirrel was following me around outside... wondered if it was rabid or something.
>>2013648
Good eating for squirrel stew down south.
>>2014140
>>2014185
>Opossum cannot carry rabies
>Everything I've read before now says that it's incredibly unlikely for an opossum to carry rabies.
Those are two VERY different things, anon. Opossums are just very, very unlikely to carry rabies due to the rabies virus having difficulties surviving in their lower body temperatures, even in controlled studies where they are directly exposed to it. However if you are to find a rabid opossum, chances are it got it from a raccoon or a cat(which in turn got it from a raccoon).
Unfortunately, if you know anything about opossums and rabies then with opossum behavior - it can look like a symptom of rabies. This video for example.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjChbYf2y5E
Opossums are piss-poor fighters, and as shown in that video, they have a habit of rocking, standing up, leaning back with their mouth open, etc which can easily be mistaken for 'rabid behavior'. A rabid opossum would still be less likely to bite than a rabid raccoon, also.
>Rabid opossums are found every year, and pretty much all over their range.
According to annual rabies statistics between the USA and Puerto Rico, about 1 rabid opossum is found every year, 4 seems to be the most in 2008. They also include 'suspected' rabies in their reports so there is a gray area with some of their statistics.
How do they know it's the same squirrel, and not just one squirrel giving rabies to other ones and other squirrels attacking?
I still think rabies is low; I've seen less severe cases happen before. They were 'hand-raised' squirrels that got too much for the person, or maybe they escaped, or their goal was to rehabilitate, they let it out and they attack, follow, and harass people because they have no fear of them whatsoever, and know people as a source of food, water and shelter. Hell I've escaped a squirrel attack from just that scenario (but I ended up locking a friend outside to deal with it ;_; ). Squirrel was rehabilitated, but would attack people when it was hungry. Most of the time the squirrels are just killed, although sometimes they are re-located (where survival is very low) or are taken as educational animals by rehabilitation centers.
