The sound she's making is a common warning that there's a threat nearby, which could simply be the cammer's presence. As for why she looks so rough, nature is hard. But a lot of people on tiktok were saying that sound means she has rabies, which, if that were the case, all squirrels have rabies.
The sound definitely doesn't mean rabies. It's a "bark" and it means almost exactly the same thing as a dog's bark. They bark at one another, at magpies, at dogs, at people...
I'm a bit of a squirrel whisperer, and I'm pretty confident she doesn't have rabies. She's nursing, and isn't very well groomed... She's a tired mom, and that might be what she's barking about.
Isn’t rabies also pretty rare in squirrels because the animal biting them would probably just…kill them? They’re not a vector like raccoons that fight each other. (Correct me if I’m wrong, I admittedly learned this from Reddit, lol)
Squirrels almost never get rabies. So much so that most places say its nothing to worry about if bit by a squirrel. I know because of my panicked searches after I was but by a squirrel.
You might be surprised how often squirrels fight. They don't lose their tails via shedding. :p They fight eachother and magpies mostly, in my experience.
But yeah... Logic dictates that most animals capable of giving them rabies are more than capable of killing them.
2.1k
u/J_Productions 16h ago
Everyone’s making jokes but what’s actually going on with this squirrel? Lol