‘Psycho’ squirrel leaves town ‘afraid to leave their homes’ after attacking 18 people

The squirrel attacked its victims at 'frightening speed' and for 'no reason whatsoever'

Residents of a small-town were left too scared to leave their homes after a "psycho" squirrel went on a 48-hour rampage - injuring at least 18 people. The grey squirrel began indiscriminately attacking pensioners, children, and pets in their gardens in Buckley, Flintshire, North Wales, last week, leaving its victims with nasty cuts to their hands and heads. The crazed critter began launching at people with "frightening speed" as they took out their bins but progressed to chasing people down the street. It has pounced on 18 victims, who were savaged over a two-day period, and at least 21 people have been hurt since last Thursday. The squirrel's reign of terror was finally brought to an end on Monday when he was caught in a humane trap by 65-year-old Corrine Reynolds. [caption id="attachment_308762" align="alignnone" width="594"] Scott Felton shows his squirrel injuries[/caption] Gran-of-nine Corrine has been feeding the animal since the summer and it has been making regular trips to her garden ever since looking for food and shelter. Despite befriending the creature, Corrine was also bitten on the hand and decided she needed to act after seeing multiple reports of squirrel attacks on social media. Mum-of-seven Corinne, who works as a home carer, said: "I noticed yesterday (Monday) that in the space of 48 hours, he has attacked 18 people. "He has started attacking people who are just taking their recycling bags to the bin and they are quite gruesome injuries. "He's not a friendly-natured squirrel I am afraid, he is a rogue one and I am starting to wonder if he has got something going on inside his head like a tumour." Corrine said the speed of the squirrel's attacks was "frightening". "It has even bit an elderly person in the area. On one occasion it chased a lad down the road and then dad was left with a bloody cut on his head," she explained, adding that the critter had attacked  "people for no reason whatsoever". "The front tooth breaks the skin in a quite lethal way. I still have a scar on my finger," she said. Corinne said she had tried to contact the RSPCA but had no response from them so she called a local out-of-hours vet who will take it away for £110. [caption id="attachment_308763" align="alignnone" width="399"] An RSPCA inspector arrives to remove Buckley's agressivce squirrel[/caption] It is illegal to release a trapped grey squirrel into the wild or to keep it in captivity. Any captured grey squirrel must be humanely destroyed. Locals are all chipping in to cover the cost of removing the squirrel. "He is so stressed out but I wanted to protect other people from being attacked. To be fair, he needs to be put out of his misery." Another unlucky victim was Sheree Robinson. She was bitten on her finger by the squirrel last Thursday while collecting her recycling bags. "This squirrel is not very nice at all, it's a nutty squirrel. He's a bit of a psycho, he's had five or six of my neighbours," the 42-year-old said. "He jumped out from behind my green bin, so whether he was trying to get food and thought I was going to take it away. "Let's just say it had me good and proper." Related links:

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Sheree said she had to stop her five-year-old from playing out the back of their house: "I've had to say 'sorry, babe, you can't go out until something has happened with it'. "It's gone wild." Other victims shared their experiences on a Buckley local community page, with one revealing her cats had also been set upon. One person wrote: "Warning vicious squirrel that attacks, has bitten me, attacked my friend kev when he came to my house and multiple other people. "I'm afraid it needs shooting and I'm an animal advocate, would never normally say that, but it's also attacked my two Bengals, who fear nothing, and my neighbours Bengal cats....not fun. "Dare not go out if in my house, as it's lurking." Grey squirrels were first released into the UK from North America in 1876 and now the Wildlife Life Trust estimates that there are 2.5 million grey squirrels in circulation in Britain.