Vicious squirrel bites 22 as it terrorises Welsh town - leaving people 'scared to go out'

A squirrel is claimed to have attacked at least 22 people in a Welsh town in Flintshire, according to locals.

Several people living in Buckley posted on their local residents' Facebook page to warn others about the critter's Christmas rampage.

One described the animal as "vicious", claiming they had been bitten by the woodland creature, adding that another friend and another person living nearby had been attacked too.

Another person posted a picture of their finger bleeding and said they had been chomped by the troublesome rodent when putting out their recycling bags for collection.

Corinne Reynolds, 65, who lives in the area and was bitten herself, managed to humanely trap the squirrel after reading claims people had been bitten.

She said some people were "scared to go out" after hearing about the spate of squirrel attacks.

Ms Reynolds recognised the squirrel as the same one she had been feeding in her garden because of three distinct bare patches on its tail.

She said: "I've fed him since March in my garden. He's been fine with me, just watched me in the garden and came close enough to take a peanut out of my hand.

"It was always friendly to me apart from the last three days when suddenly its behaviour changed and as soon as he saw me he bounded across the garden or jumped off the shed roof onto my head and wriggled round my neck and body."

She said she was surprised at first to hear that so many different people had been bitten by it, some "quite severely". But when its behaviour changed and Ms Reynolds was bitten herself, she realised something needed to be done.

She said: "His behaviour had altered and he was erratic, so I got a humane trap and caught him for peoples' safety."

The 65-year-old has since taken the animal to a vets to be put down.

It is illegal to release a grey squirrel back into the wild in the UK, and trapped specimens must be humanely destroyed.

Ms Reynolds often looks after injured wild animals, like pigeons and squirrels, in her garden.

She said although taking the animal to be put to sleep was the right thing to do - it was not a nice experience at all.

"I feel incredibly sad it's been put to sleep, but I had no option" she explained.

"The amount of people bitten by it...the bad wounds on some meant something had to be done.

"Twenty-two people altogether have been bitten by it, all in this local area. Some of the stories are awful, people are really scared to go out.

"And while I'm not proud of doing what I did, I know I have the support from many for doing it, not just my friends but total strangers."