Russian squirrel pack 'kills dog' (sounds like National Enquirer)!!!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4489792.stm

Russian squirrel pack 'kills dog'

Local people suggest hunger is driving squirrels to extremes
Squirrels have bitten to death a stray dog which was barking at them in a Russian park, local media report.
Passers-by were too late to stop the attack by the black squirrels in a village in the far east, which reportedly lasted about a minute.

They are said to have scampered off at the sight of humans, some carrying pieces of flesh.

A pine cone shortage may have led the squirrels to seek other food sources, although scientists are sceptical.

The attack was reported in parkland in the centre of Lazo, a village in the Maritime Territory, and was witnessed by three local people.

A "big" stray dog was nosing about the trees and barking at squirrels hiding in branches overhead when a number of them suddenly descended and attacked, reports say.


"They literally gutted the dog," local journalist Anastasia Trubitsina told Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper.

"When they saw the men, they scattered in different directions, taking pieces of their kill away with them."

Mikhail Tiyunov, a scientist in the region, said it was the first he had ever heard of such an attack.

While squirrels without sources of protein might attack birds' nests, he said, the idea of them chewing a dog to death was "absurd".

"If it really happened, things must be pretty bad in our forests," he added.

Komosmolskaya Pravda notes that in a previous incident this autumn chipmunks terrorised cats in a part of the territory.

A Lazo man who called himself only Mikhalich said there had been "no pine cones at all" in the local forests this year.

"The little beasts are agitated because they have nothing to eat," he added.
:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

OMG! That shows how much damage we are doing to our planet, it's making squirrels evil!

So this "big dog" just stood there while the squirrels killed him, right?
I don't believe it at all.

I saw this article a week or two ago, and don't believe it at all. You have to make too many leaps of faith to believe it. One, the dog (a large dog) would just let the squirrels attack him? Suuuuure. Two, why would the squirrels attack the dog in the first place? They're in a park, there are probably people feeding them, leaving food around, etc.

Squirrels hunt....... in packs? :eek: How'd they develop THAT survival strategy? :rolleyes: I mean, that's some pretty sophisticated predatory behavior there.

dont believe it. squirrels are wayy too afraid of zero...they run away when he comes in the yard because he hunts and kills them

I'm not sure if I believe it...but I did see a story one time of a squirrel that jumped on an elderly man and started biting him. But I think it had rabies or something...

:confused: Laugh if you will....

I took my dad camping at Leo Carrillo State Park.

A few years earlier a bunch of squirrels climbed up under the truck and chewed thru some of the electrics in his Blazer....So my dad and the squirrels were well aquainted.


I asked him if he wanted to go for a walk after lunch, he declined, so I got him him tuna fish, chips and pop---me and the GF went to the water.

When we came back my dad was in a lawn chair unconcious, there was a squirrel eating his sandwich, some under the chair rummaging for what fell, some on the table next to him deciding what to do.

As we approached I called to him, he woke up and all the fuzzies ran to escape the awakening giant. My dad looked up and started to laugh.


It was one of the funniest memories that I have of my dad....

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I guess we'll never know what kind of sandwich the dog was eating..... :rolleyes: :o

When I lived in Philadelphia and worked in Center City, we used to say that the squirrels in Rittenhouse Square would mug you for your lunch.

We thought it was a joke.

Liz