Several UK publications reported last week of a school playground which had to be evacuated after an “unusually aggressive” gray squirrel became too much of a threat to the students. The Huffington Post reports:
The Watford Observer reported that a rampaging squirrel went so far as to scratch a staff member at Chater Infants School, a primary school located in Watford, Hertfordshire. A statement on the school’s website, however, says “no squirrel has ’caused havoc’ or ‘terrified’ children at Chater Infant School” and accuses the Observer of “greatly exaggerating” the event:
We did have a curious and bold squirrel in the playground during Golden Time a few weeks ago; I would like to assure you that the children were not at risk. If there had been a serious concern I would have written to you immediately. The teachers and I spoke to the children in assembly about how to behave around pets and other animals.
There is no substance to this article, it is poorly written and greatly exaggerates an occurrence in the playground . I am sorry if this has caused you any concern.
Nevertheless, both the Observer and The Evening Standard cite head teacher Amrit Bal-Richards as confirming some sort of squirrel-related incident.“We did have an incident where we had a squirrel,” Bal-Richards said, according to the Watford Observer. The publication says she noted that aggression is “very uncommon” in squirrels and that the school would “be monitoring the situation.”
