Last week, over a two-day period, people in a small town in North Wales began to experience unprovoked attacks by a grey squirrel. The animal was eventually captured and put down, but not before 18 people were injured as a result of its wild biting spree, reports say.

According to the BBC, the grey squirrel started attacking people in Buckley, Flintshire, last week. Prior to that, Corinne Reynolds, 65, had been feeding it since March. She said it was a “frequent and friendly visitor” to her garden.

The squirrel initially came “to steal bird food” Reynolds said: “All those months he’s been fine, he would even come and take a nut out of my hand.” The squirrel, who’s since acquired the nickname “Stripe” — after the villain in the movie “Gremlins” — bit her last week as she fed him in her garden, the BBC reported.

The Independent reported that the squirrel began attacking residents in their gardens with “frightening speed,” causing some to be so afraid they refused to leave their homes. Others reported being “chased down the street.”

The Guardian reported that the magnitude of the problem surfaced when Reynolds reported on a local social media group page, what had happened to her and was shocked to learn how many others had also been bitten.

“In the space of 48 hours he attacked 18 people,” she said. “He started attacking people who are just taking their recycling bags to the bin, and they are quite gruesome injuries.”

The Evening Standard reported the squirrel “was also accused of biting dogs, cats and chasing people down country roads.”

Knowing what needed to be done, The Guardian reported that Reynolds caught Stripe in a humane trap, and the RSPCA came and picked up the squirrel, ending Stripe’s reign of terror.

Since it is illegal to release a grey squirrel back into the wild, the RSPCA said it had no choice but to put Stripe down — not a happy ending, The Guardian reported.

https://www.pennlive.com/nation-world/2021/12/north-wales-town-terrorized-by-a-grey-squirrel-18-injured-in-two-days-of-attacks.html