Healthy squirrels don't do that ... ever heard of rabies?

Post #341,482 by drook 4/11/11 11:23:48 AM Reply	Healthy squirrels don't do that ... ever heard of rabies? -- Drew
Post #341,486 by S1mon_Jester 4/11/11 12:07:50 PM Reply	Squirrels with rabies are rare http://rabies.emedtv...nd-squirrels.html http://www.ehow.com/...es-squirrels.html
Post #341,488 by SpiceWare 4/11/11 12:24:27 PM Reply	doubt the officer had time to google it nor would I expect him to be well versed in what animals are susceptible to what diseases.
Post #341,493 by S1mon_Jester 4/11/11 2:59:53 PM Reply	I said rare...not impossible. But the squirrel doesn't look rabid to me. It looks like it's lost of fear of humans and thinks the officer is a young girl about to throw it food. (But that's just my opinion). Flip-side of the coin - pepper-spraying the squirrel won't kill it. And it MIGHT avoid humans in the future.
Post #341,495 by SpiceWare 4/11/11 3:39:29 PM Reply	not much detail in that video I used to feed a squirrel Atomic Fireballs when I attended UH. It would hold and eat them like a corn on the cob. It wouldn't, however, get that close even though it appeared to recognize me. It seems to me that the officer would have only been gotten called out if the squirrel was acting abnormally - <google> http://thescoopblog....tuns-young-s.html According to school officials, the baby squirrel -- which looks to be about the size of a hamster -- was chasing after some students. The school deemed this a threat, and called animal control. Mesquite police Sgt. Wes Talley said the officer who showed up thought the animal was acting strange and might have been rabid If that's what the school officials & officer thought, then the response was appropriate - imagine the outcry if school and/or officer said "meh" and a rabid squirrel bit a student. It's easy to be the armchair quarterback after the fact, especially when additional information is available that wasn't at the time of the incident.
Post #341,496 by hnick 4/11/11 3:52:42 PM Reply	Losing fear of humans... My wife and I honeymooned in Toronto where they have cute black squirrels in the park. We were strolling through the park with a bag of hot cashews that we got from a vendor in hopes of feeding the squirrels... the squirrels were tracking us. We sat on a bench and they ran up our backs to our shoulders to get at the nuts. We thought it was funny/cute. Pepper spray would have been extreme.

Welcome to IWETHEY!