'Very Aggressive' Squirrels Jump On And Bite Kids At Florida Park

ORLANDO, FL — Aggressive squirrels that jump on and bite visitors at a popular Orlando park have resulted in a flurry of complaints in recent weeks, prompting park officials to post warning signs about the pumped up rodents. The most recent victim was a toddler, who was scratched on her back and arm by a squirrel that pounced on her.

The squirrels at the 11-acre Shadow Bay Park, located on Turkey Lake Road about three miles from Universal Studios, are a problem, but so are the people who feed them, park officials say. Doing so causes the squirrels to lose their natural fear of people.

At least five people have complained about the aggressive squirrels in recent weeks. Park officials began posting signs instructing people, “do not feed wildlife,” on Wednesday.

“This is why these particular squirrels have in fact become aggressive,” Orange County spokesperson Doreen Overstreet told The Orlando Sentinel in an email.

Tosha Elliott, who takes her daughter to the park daily, told television station WKMG that parents need to tell their children to stay away from squirrels.

“These squirrels at the park, they are running up to kids and some of them are chasing the kids … because they think they have food,” Elliott said.

She said she reminds her daughter, “Hey listen, the squirrels maybe have rabies or they might have something contagious that we don’t want to get, so we don’t touch animals that we don’t know.”

According to The Orlando Sentinel report, the mother of the 2 ½-year-old who was injured said on social media that she visits the park several times a week and always sees the squirrel that injured her child. She said that because of irresponsible parents “thinking it’s cute to feed this squirrel, it now has no fear of humans, gets very aggressive when he sees anyone with a snack or bag of food and has now attacked a second child.”

To parents who encourage squirrel feeding, she emphasized: “You are putting children in danger. You are being irresponsible and you are changing the natural way of these animals’ lives. If you think this post is silly, then you obviously don’t have kids.”

File photo by Mark Medcalf / Shutterstock