Posted on 11/01/2006 10:55:11 AM PST by dirtboy
OIL CITY, Pa. - Letter carriers occasionally have to deal with angry dogs or maybe even a spider's nest in a mailbox, but a mean squirrel?
Barb Dougherty, a 30-year Postal Service employee, said she was attacked and bitten Monday by a squirrel while delivering mail in Oil City, about 75 miles north of Pittsburgh.
"It was a freak thing. It was traumatic," Dougherty told The Derrick in Oil City. "I saw it there on the porch, put the mail in the box and turned to walk away and it jumped on me."
The animal ran up her leg and onto her back, she said.
"I eventually got a hold of the tail and pulled it off me," Dougherty said. "No one was home at the house where I was delivering the mail, but the neighbor lady heard me screaming and came over."
An ambulance took Dougherty to the hospital, where she was treated for cuts and scratches. The squirrel was killed with a BB gun and sent to a lab to be tested for rabies. Dougherty was given the first series of rabies shots as a precaution.
Postal officials said the attack is extraordinary.
"In about 230 years of postal history, I bet it is not the first, but I've personally never heard of another squirrel biting," said Steve Kochersperger, spokesman for the Erie district.
Squirrels do not frequently bite people, said Regis Senko, who works for the Pennsylvania Game Commission.
Steve Jolley, a Postal Service manager in Oil City, said, "We are not issuing a squirrel alert, but everyone is aware of the incident."
the squirril had been molested when very young and had been drinking right before the mail was delivered
(We had fruit trees and I was highly displeased to see that their tastes ran to the not-quite-ripe side, so they'd get theirs first)
Foamy is out of control...
Did you ever try loading the BB gun with .177 caliber pellets? That gives it a bit more umpf, especially if you pump the gun up the max number of times.
Yo! You lookin' at me?
You wanna start sumtin'?
All I saw at first was "squirrel is taken to hospital."
Thought for sure this was a PETA article.
BTTT
You know, I haven't, and I think I actually have some pellets....but no squirrels out here in the desert!
I thought the squirrel was taking Ambien and had become disoriented while driving to the Capitol.
This is overkill. The squirrel just needed rehab.
Revised headline: Squirrel Goes Postal on Mailman
I got bit by a squirrel once; he thought my finger was a peanut. That rascal had some sharp little teeth!
Stories like this always remind me of the squirrel hand grenade.
". "No one was home at the house where I was delivering the mail, but the neighbor lady heard me screaming and came over.""
What a wimp.
Killer Squirrel Ping.
I would imagine it was a little frightening. You don't think so?
the squirrel had been molested when very young and had been drinking right before the mail was delivered...
Barb must be a Republican, and the squirrel another deranged demented desperate Democrat!
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