Are Zombie Squirrels Set To Take Over Western New York?

There was one time that the word zombie made people think about B-movies and science fiction novels about undead creatures taking over the world. However, over the last few years, we've seen that word pop up more often in our day-to-day lives.

From zombie properties and mortgages to zombie relationships, the undead just don't seem to go away.

If that wasn't enough, there seems to be a new type of zombie that is giving people the heebee geebees, and it's even weirder than it sounds.

The Zombie Squirrel Epidemic Is Spreading Around America

Wildlife experts around the United States are ringing the alarm about animals that look like they're straight out of a zombie movie on your favorite streaming services.

About seven years ago, Concordia University published an April Fools' joke about zombie squirrels taking over America, but according to the New York Post, the Independent, and other outlets, there really are zombie squirrels, and they are flat-out grotesque-looking.

Squirrel pox, or squirrel fibroma, is a viral disease which produces multiple tumors on the skin of gray and fox squirrels. It is a leporipox belonging to the pox group of viruses which produce rabbit fibromatosis, rabbit myxomatosis, hare fibromatosis and some deer fibromas. Multiple skin tumors on gray squirrels from Maryland were reported in 1953. Since then, reports of squirrels with skin tumors have come from Florida, New York, Virginia, North Carolina, and Ontario. In Michigan, they have been found on both gray and fox squirrels in the Lower Peninsula.
-Michigan Department of Natural Resources

Squirrels with oozing sores on their body that look almost like herpes warts have been found in several states, and with the way these animal diseases can spread, some folks are worried it's well on its way to the Empire State.

While these squirrels look gross, the disease itself isn't contagious to humans and household pets, and the warts and growths usually will clear up on their own in the squirrels in a few weeks.

If you do come across a zombie squirrel, just leave it alone, as it should be fine.