Rogue squirrel running amok in Vermont

According to numerous reports, an apparently non-rabid gray squirrel has been terrorizing a Bennington, Vt., neighborhood. At least three people have reported unprovoked attacks from the renegade fluffy-tail. One victim, Kevin McDonald, who was shoveling snow unsuspectingly, said the assault came from above: "All of a sudden I felt something on my back and shoulders, scratching." McDonald said he threw the squirrel off, but it came back at him twice more. Another victim was bitten and is undergoing precautionary rabies treatment, but a public health veterinarian said it's unlikely the squirrel is rabid and that there has never been a documented squirrel-to-human case of rabies transmission. He suspects the squirrel was raised by humans and either escaped or was turned loose, and thus it absolutely can't stand humans it doesn't recognize as kin. "The take-home message is don't try to take care of wildlife because it's very hard to return them to the wild," the veterinarian said. "A tame squirrel is a loose cannon sometimes." Read much more from The Associated Press, here (via MSNBC), and read the original report from the Bennington Banner, which contains many crime-scene details, here.