GOING POSTAL: IN THE POSTAL ZONE : squirrel goes postal. This news item is from a British news line, which has many tags about "the squirrel menace". They're kind of obsessed with squirrels in England, because the Royals are behaving themselves.

Thursday, November 2, 2006

Tiny, furry demon: a squirrel, just waiting for the right moment to strike.

The squirrel menace – believed by many to have gone away – returned with a vengeance on Monday, when a rogue squirrel attacked a postal worker as she delivered letters.

The terrifying incident occurred as Barb Dougherty was delivering mail in Oil City, Pennsylvania. 'I saw it there on the porch, put the mail in the box and turned to walk away and it jumped on me,' she explained.

The squirrel then ran up her leg and onto her back, scratching and biting her as it went.

It was a freak thing. It was traumatic.

Dougherty said: 'It was a freak thing. It was traumatic.'

Dougherty related how she battled the squirrel. 'I eventually got a hold of the tail and pulled it off me,' she told Oil City newspaper The Derrick. 'No one was home at the house where I was delivering the mail, but the neighbor lady heard me screaming and came over.'

Dougherty had to be treated for cuts at hospital, where she was also given a rabies shot. The squirrel was killed with a gun after the attack, and will now be tested for the disease.

Postal authorities were worried that this was an unprecedented escalation in the squirrel-human wars. '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 Postal Service spokesman Steve Kochersperger.

Meanwhile, Steve Jolley, a Postal Service manager in Oil City, noted: 'We are not issuing a squirrel alert, but everyone is aware of the incident.'