Aggressive squirrel gets evicted, goes down biting

Multiple agencies helped re-home an aggressive squirrel in Santa Cruz. Multiple agencies helped re-home an aggressive squirrel in Santa Cruz. Photo: KSBW Photo: KSBW Image 1 of / 5 Caption Close Aggressive squirrel gets evicted, goes down biting 1 / 5 Back to Gallery

An aggressive squirrel living in a tree outside a California home was moved from its home Saturday.

Its eviction was quite the production, with the Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter, Native Animal Rescue and even the Santa Cruz Fire Department involved.



The squirrel had bitten passersby, apparently in an effort to protect the animal's babies, and was removed because it was becoming a public safety issue.

Charlotte Nolan-Reyes, who lives nearby, said she nursed the squirrel, which her daughter named Emily, back to health when it was a baby.



"I saved her when she was little. She was tiny. She was bleeding. She would have died," she said.

Emily was living in a grapefruit tree in downtown Santa Cruz.

Over the weekend, after the squirrel's capture, Emily chewed her way to freedom from a cardboard carrier. Like many animals, wildlife experts believe that Emily got stressed when she and her babies were captured.



"Unfortunately, she had chewed a hole in the box that we did not think she was capable of getting out of and she got out," said Amy Redfeather, Native Animal Rescue chief volunteer in charge.

There were several holes in her carrier in which she was able to squeeze through one and get away.

Volunteers at Native Animal Rescue tried everything to try and lure Emily back, even using baby squirrel sounds.

"That's one of the tactics we used but when you're working with wildlife this stuff happens a lot," said Redfeather.

In recent weeks, residents said Emily had become aggressive, attacking and biting people as they passed by.

"I've seen passersby... The squirrel would jump on them, or, you know, assert its dominance," said Red Townsend, who works nearby.

The overprotective mother had bitten at least four people before being captured by animal rescue authorities.

Small rodents like squirrels are almost never found to be infected with rabies and have not been known to transmit rabies to humans.