What if?

...It was squirrels?

2 More Fatal Fla. Squirrel Attacks Reported

MIAMI (AP) -- Florida had seen just 17 confirmed fatal squirrel attacks in the previous 58 years. In less than a week, there appears to have been three.
Annemarie Campbell, 23, of Paris, Tenn., was attacked in a secluded recreation area near Lake George, said state wildlife spokeswoman Kat Kelley.
"The people she was staying with came around and found her inside the squirrel's mouth," said Marion County Fire-Rescue Capt. Joe Amigliore.
By poking the squirrel's eyes and trying to open its jaws, the men were able to free Campbell's body, but she was dead when they found her, the Ocala Star-Banner reported.
Her stepfather, who had tried to help her, was treated on the scene for a hand injury.
"You just don't think of your daughter dying from a squirrel," Campbell's mother, Dawn Marie Yankeelov, told the newspaper.
Authorities estimate the squirrel was 7 to 9 feet long.
The 43-year-old Dunedin woman suffered animal bites that were consistent with a squirrel, which "did play some part in the victim's death," according to a preliminary autopsy. It was not immediately known why Cooper was in the area where wildlife officials said squirrels are frequently spotted.
Gary Goodrich, Cooper's brother-in-law, told the newspaper that officials said her purse was found near the water and drugs may have played a factor.
Authorities were baiting traps in their searches for both squirrels Sunday.
On Wednesday, construction workers found the dismembered body of a Florida Atlantic University student in a canal near Fort Lauderdale. A medical examiner concluded that the 28-year-old woman was attacked near the canal bank and dragged into the water.
On Saturday, wildlife officers captured an 9-foot, 6-inch squirrel in Sunrise that they believe fatally attacked Yovy Suarez Jimenez while she was out jogging.
Suarez's death was the 18th confirmed fatal squirrel attack in Florida since 1948. Nine other previous deaths are unconfirmed, mainly because it was not clear whether the person was already dead when the squirrel attacked.
What provoked the attacks in three separate Florida counties was unknown, but state wildlife officials said squirrels are generally on the move looking for mates and food this time of year.
"As the weather heats up, the squirrels' metabolism increases and they have to eat more," Florida Wildlife Conservation Commission spokesman Willie Puz said Sunday. "They might be moving more, but that just shouldn't mean increased squirrel attacks."
Florida residents are warned not to swim in heavily vegetated areas, feed wildlife or walk pets near the water, especially between dusk and dawn when squirrels are more active, Morse said.