Squirrel That Menaced Town Meets Unfortunate End

Stripe allegedly bit 18 people in the Welsh town
By Kate Seamons,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 29, 2021 1:02 PM CST
A Squirrel Menaced a Welsh Town
A stock photo of a grey squirrel in Wales.   (Getty Images)

A squirrel that apparently terrorized a town in Wales has been put down, and the Guardian has the odd story. The animal dubbed Stripe—a nod to the creature of the same name in the movie Gremlins—had initially been fed by a 65-year-old local. But what began as a sweet thing in the summer took an ugly turn, with Corrine Reynolds saying Stripe started biting her. She reported as much in a community Facebook group, and other alleged victims came out of the woodwork. "In the space of 48 hours he attacked 18 people," Reynolds says of Stripe. "He started attacking people who are just taking their recycling bags to the bin, and they are quite gruesome injuries." Wales Online, which reports others called the creature "psycho," has pictures of some of the wounds.

A 34-year-old said he had to get a tetanus shot after Stripe pounced on his arm and bit his hand. A 42-year-old woman says she ended up with "teeth marks on the top and bottom of my finger. It latched on and I had to shake it off." Reynolds decided to rid Buckley, Flintshire, of the menace, and obtained a humane trap with which to do so. But after handing the animal to the RSPCA, it was put down, with the group saying while it was "incredibly sad" to do so, they "were left with no choice due to changes in legislation in 2019 making it illegal to release grey squirrels back into the wild." The group added: "We do not agree with this law and opposed it, but legally we have to comply." (More strange stuff stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X