BY ALEJANDRA O’CONNELL-DOMENECH | Beware of aggressive squirrels in Rockefeller Park.
On Aug. 9, the Battery Park City Authority published a warning on its Web site stating that it has received reports of aggressive squirrels biting visitors around the playground in Rockefeller Park.
According to ABC7 Eyewitness News, the New York City Health Department receives about 30 reports of squirrel bites annually, and since it started doing rabies surveillance in 1992, has yet to find a single squirrel with rabies.
“Squirrels exhibiting aggressive behavior have usually been fed by humans before — and are looking to eat again, or feel threatened,” the Lower Manhattan authority’s Web site states, after warning park visitors not to feed the animals.
B.P.C.A. is meeting with the city Department of Health officials this week to address the situation so that park visitors can better enjoy the space.
Those bitten by an aggressive Battery Park squirrel should report it to the Department of Health, as Assemblymember Yuh-Line Niou tweeted on Tuesday.
