A squirrel eats acorns along the Walnut Creek Trail in Des Moines, Sept. 11, 2025.

Residents in California's Bay Area on high alert after an aggressive squirrel sent multiple people to the emergency room in September.

Joan Heblack was on her morning walk in San Rafael, just north of San Francisco, when a squirrel "came out of nowhere" and attacked her, clawing and biting her leg.

"The tail was flying up here. I was like, 'Get it off me, get off me!' I didn't want to touch it," Heblack told ABC7. She went to the emergency room to treat her wounds.

Isabel Campoy also fell victim to the fury assailant. Not far from where the first attack happened, the same squirrel "tried to jump" on Campoy’s face, she told the outlet. To protect her face, Campoy used her arm, which the squirrel clawed viciously.

"Finally it jumped off, by then I was full of blood, I run to the emergency room," Campoy told ABC7.

Paper signs around town now warn about the rodent: "ATTACK SQUIRREL BEWARE!!!!!!!!!" one says, adding, "THIS IS NOT A JOKE."

Squirrel attacks are uncommon and usually benign, experts say. The rodents rarely carry rabies, though squirrel bites have been linked to the transmission of certain diseases to humans.

Residents in San Rafael told local media outlets that more than five people have been attacked by the same squirrel, citing the caramel or golden hue of its fur.

Lisa Bloch, director of marketing and communications for Marin Humane, told KTVU that while it’s uncommon for squirrels to attack people, this latest string of incidents could be the result of someone feeding the animal or raising it from a young age.

Marin Humane and the Marin County Sheriff's Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

"People love animals, which is wonderful, but they mistakenly think that a way to help animals is to feed them," she told the outlet. "And in fact it does the opposite."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: An 'attack squirrel' has injured multiple people in California, reports say

Reporting by Christopher Cann, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect