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A three-year-old boy was left dripping with blood after apparently being savagely attacked by an angry pack of squirrels.

Finley Renouf was feeding the wildlife in Tehidy Country Park in Cornwall when a scurry of grey squirrels aggressively grouped round the youngster, his mother said.

One of the rodents then pounced on the infant, sinking its teeth into his hand.

His mother, Sophie Renouf, told the BBC: “He was feeding them as normal with nuts. I wouldn't let him feed them if I thought there was any danger.

"One squirrel came up and then all of a sudden six of them came out of the hedge.

"One of them bit him on the hand five times.

"There was blood pouring out of his hand and down his legs, it was all over him."

After fighting off the squirrels, the 22-year-old rushed her son to hospital.

Medics spent three hours treating his bite wounds and bandaging up his fingers and he is now recovering from the ordeal.

Cornwall Council said it was "sorry to hear about the incident".

A spokesman said: "Many people visit Tehidy Country Park to see the squirrels so they are quite used to people being around and unafraid to approach if they think food might be available.

"However, they are wild animals which are naturally capable of finding their own food and we do not encourage or advise people to feed them or any of the wild birds at Tehidy."