Posted on 02/24/2007 3:56:59 PM PST by grjr21
He thought I was stealing his chips when he was stealing my chips! Thats how four-year-old Hayley Allard described what happened Thursday when a squirrel attacked her in Mountain Views Cuesta Park.
He was getting my Sun Chips. I reached over to get them and he jumped right in my face and started scratching it, the girl said.
It was frightening, said her mother, Debbie Allard. It was a very scary thing to have happened. It was traumatizing.
Squirrels in Cuesta Park have attacked at least 20 people since last spring. Hayley had to get a tetanus shot. Her doctor decided she didnt need one for rabies. There are signs in the childrens play area warning about aggressive squirrels and prohibiting food, but the Allard family doesnt feel thats practical.
You can put up signs and you can tell people not to have things, but when you have more than one person, like if you have two small children, its really hard to do a full body search on everybody to make sure theres no food, said Dave Allard, Hayleys father.
The city has placed traps throughout the park using strollers as part of the bait system, but so far has only caught one squirrel. The Allards want the childrens play area shut down and fenced off until all the aggressive squirrels are trapped. While parents at the park are surprised to hear about the latest attacks, many dont want to see the play area closed off.
Thats a little too drastic. Everybodys playing here, a lot of people, said Dennis Kanyga of Mountain View.
I think the ultimate responsibility is up to whos here with the children, said Los Altos resident Kyuri Doeden, who was at the park with her son.
Mountain Views community services director told CBS 5 by phone the park will remain open, but the Allard family doesnt plan to come back.
I dont think its a safe place for children to be in until they solve this problem, said Debbie Allard.
City officials said park visitors created the problem when they fed the squirrels. The animals are now so brazen, they look to humans for food and will attack to get it.
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Yup. Mountain View, all right.
The squirrels are attracted to Fruits & Nuts.
There used to be a place in Los Gatos where bird would attack people as they crossed N. Santa Cruz. It was funny, it would just dive-bomb people as they crossed the street. I don't know whatever became of that.
It became my 1992 Thanksgiving Dinner.
Shot two of the little bastards today. I looove .22 shotshells.
What kind of range do those have, and what did you shoot them out of?
Or a twelve-year-old boy with a pellet gun.
Should we tell them the environmentalist wackos have been repopulating the parks with mountain lions and wolves?
like your tag line
They're evil, I tell you.
Out of a .22. I actually have my grandfather's old Remington smoothbore .22 single-shot bolt-action (the world's smallest shotgun, basically), but you can shoot them out of any .22, long gun or handgun. They also make really good snake loads.
But they don't have much range - maybe 15 yards, max - I snipe the squirrels from the kitchen door when they get to be too numerous. The main advantage is that you don't get any significant ricochets - they use 12 shot, which is tiny.
A few teenagers with pellet guns could solve this problem...
Thanks, and thanks. One of these days I'll move back to a rural area, and when I do I may have to do some population control on the tree rats.
ALL YOUR SUN CHIPS
ARE BELONG TO US.
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