Chipmunk attacks in city garden

Friday 31st July 2009, 11:29AM BST.

Britain - NewsA young mother from Wolverhampton got more than she bargained for when she popped into her back garden for a cigarette.

Roxanne Whelan, aged 20, was attacked by a Siberian chipmunk that was lurking at the bottom of her garden at midday yesterday.

The creature ran towards Miss Whelan, hopped on a sofa she keeps in the garden and jumped straight at her.

She said today: “It was staring right at me and wasn’t frightened of me at all.

“The next thing I knew it was jumping straight towards me and went on the attack. I thought it was going to bite me.

“I screamed and ran for the kitchen door, then banged it shut and sat quaking inside.”

Miss Whelan, who has a five-month-old son Kye and lives in Emerson Road, The Scotlands, added: “Now I’m too scared to go in the garden.”

The attack is the latest in a string of skirmishes involving Siberian chipmunks, which can carry Lyme disease and rabies.

Some are thought to have sneaked into Britain via the Eurotunnel.


  1. 1
    antony j

    its the attack of the killer chipmunks eh?? you can tell its a really slow news day when a chipmunk makes the headlines. you should live in Canada… you go into the wilderness here you can come up against bears, wolves and cougers!!! and not the type of cougers you find in a wolvo nigtclub at the end of a saturday night….although they may be just as dangerous?

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  2. 2
    BB

    OK… why would Siberian chipmunks that sneaked into Britain via the Eurotunnel head toward or end up goung to Wolverhampton. I think it’s more of a case that they were once someones pets and they either got out or their owners got fed up of looking after them.

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  3. 3
    Bryan Jones

    “YE GODS” Scorpions at the docks, False black widow Spiders creeping north, now Maraudering Siberian Chipmunks in Wolverhampton!!!! Watch out the Premier Leauge we aim to stay up.

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  4. 4
    joss routledge

    I’m always appalled with the express and stars writing style.
    As a wolverhampton resident i would be overjoyed to see a chipmunk in my garden, please stop spreading your fearmongering, it is totally irresponsible to demonise animals in this way.
    I wonder how much of this story is fact as well, because every article in your rag is full of basic mistakes, comprehension isnt a journalists strong point i know, but it does get tiresome reading your drivel.
    Anyway leave the bloody chipmunks alone your media racket is the real vermin in society.

    HUMANS SPREAD DISEASES!

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  5. 5
    Eric Dandel

    “a sofa she keeps in the garden”

    Classy lady.

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  6. 6
    SUPERSTARDJWOLVES

    Moxey sign him up that chipmunk would look lethal in our midfield! Joking apart, Chipmunks attacking humans… whatever next?

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  7. 7
    Wulfrunian

    There are far worse creatures waiting to attack you in the Scotlands !

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  8. 8
    TORQUAY MAN

    Living in Emerson Road I imagine she must be used to feeling scared, I feel sorry for the Chipmunk but if they are thought to carry disease and rabies that would explain why it has been frequently seen in inpoverished west midlands estates

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  9. 9
    AlvinskitheChipmunk

    Immigration in this country is a complete joke. Why were these chipmunks allowed in? Do they have work permits? Are they refugees? Are they running away from the harsh Siberian Winter? They think that this country is a meal ticket. Bring back the Red Squirrel i say and get rid.

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  10. 10
    Golden Blood

    LOL. What a quality story. They are only 4 inches long. LOL

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  11. 11
    WOLVES FAN 99

    HOW DID THEY GET IN THE COUNTRY

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  12. 12
    Terri

    I have a three year old, a one year-old and a two month old baby boy. I am truely terrified at the thought of these chipmunks and wont be taking my kiddies down the park until things have quitened down.

    Report abuse

  13. 13
    theinterestedone

    Why does anyone keep a sofa in the garden ?
    Sounds like a great area .. is the chipmonk safe ?

    Report abuse

  14. 14
    gigidy gigidy

    Was it Alvin, Simon or Theodore?

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  15. 15
    gigidy gigidy

    Did he buy the £59 return to Paris?

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  16. 16
    Scotlands Scumbag

    Why don’t you stick the sofa in the front garden … I could do with a new one !!!

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  17. 17
    Jim The Wolf

    To Terri (comment 9)- no offence love but you sound like you might have a few sofas loose in YOUR backgarden! maybe if you spent less time makin bacon and more time reading up on chipmunks you wouldn’t be so ‘off the wall’ with your comments. seriously no offence LOL

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  18. 18
    vindaloony

    I bet this revelation as really upset her neighbours because they only have a mattress in their front garden….

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  19. 19
    Zamo( C Hawkes)

    i once had a chipmunk attack my hair cause it was so long nasty little creatures

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  20. 20
    Beth Clew

    To Joss Routledge (comment number 4). I think the logical solution to the fact that you don’t like a particular newspaper is not to read it. Sun readers manage not to look at The Times if they don’t fancy it, and Telegraph readers manage to avoid the Mirror, I’m sure you can manage it.

    Another logical solution to disguise the fact that you know nothing about a particular profession (ie journalism) is not to bother talking about it.

    Report abuse

  21. 21
    Martacus Red

    That’s one peril of smoking the Goverment haven’t told us about.
    I think next time she goes for a fag, a Cat will attack her, then a dog, then a Lion & finally a T Rex who will eat her.
    I just wished people would take heed of the dangers of smoking. I just hope the Chipmonk sues for passive smoking.

    Report abuse

  22. 22
    wolvesdaz

    Bet the chipmunk wishes he was back in siberia, All that way to end up on the scotlands,But looking on bright side he as learned such vital words as Giro and asylum

    Report abuse

  23. 23
    George Berrys Afro

    Nos 5 and 18 comedy genius!

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  24. 24
    How lovely

    I am confused – chipmunks as in small, furry creatures that have enhanced many a Disney film – on the attack in Wolverhampton? Maybe it objected to the outdoor sofa, or the way the young lady was looking at him? Either way, it needs to be stopped before the Guinea pigs start getting ideas…

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  25. 25
    oneguy

    that is soooo funny …… i want a chipmunk lol

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  26. 26
    St Johns Wolf

    The chipmunk was only trying to dive through the hoops in the woman’s ears.

    Do I feel a compensation claim coming on here.

    How did she know it was a Siberian Chipmunk and not a rat which has probably been living down the back of the sofa?

    You couldn’t make it up.

    Report abuse

  27. 27
    Scott

    I cant believe the wealth this young victim has shown, i mean, a sofa in the garden, i like many of you have 2 in my living room, and am blessed enough to have one in my conservatory, but to have one in the garden, she must be in the upper echolons of society. Maybe get her butler to attack the chipmonk

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  28. 28
    Jon

    Was it Alvin,Simon or Theodore!!!!!

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  29. 29
    bezza j

    It could have been Basil the Siberian hamster on his holidays from Fawlty Towers

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  30. 30
    Hexxen

    Maybe a gazebo is needed to go with the sofa and a couple of old tyres for decoration. That should be enough to get the chipmunk to leave in discussed !

    Report abuse

  31. 31
    Mark Smith

    This is hilarious! I will show this to my friends here in Canada. We have a LOT of chipmunks here but I’ve never heard of a chipmunk attack. They’re 4 inches long for Gods sake. This sounds like Monty Python and The Holy Grail with the killer rabbit. Now if it was a Skunk you could be scared. It’s a chipmunk, probably trying to get out of The Scotlands before someone stabs it, poor bugger. Very funny, thanks.

    Report abuse

  32. 32
    wolves-till-i-die

    Maybe she typed meerkat
    “ITS MARKET MARKET MARKET”
    SIMPLES

    Report abuse

  33. 33
    drdufflecoat

    You’ll all be pleased to know the chipmunk as since been arrested for breaking and entering, it was seen in a transit van earlier scanning the street and some good samaritan got suspicious and took its reg (which ironically turned out to be false plates) police later tracked down the said van in nearby Tennyson Road and busted the little mite leaving a property with gold…Plenty of gold..!! Necklaces, earrings and all kinds of booty.! Police were not available for comment…

    Report abuse

  34. 34
    holly

    OMG i keep chipmunks they arent like that at all it makes our lil furry friends soooo scarey ha ha ha god help us chipmunk breeders lmao

    Report abuse

  35. 35
    H.wednesburybaggie

    If it landed on afridge instead of a sofa it would have been a chinCHILLA ???

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  36. 36
    Roxanne Whelan

    i must say the only reason i have a sofa in the back garden is due to the fact ive had a new one and the council havent come to remove it, as for most of your pathetic comments, maybe you should get a hobby instead of spending so much time worrying about my problems, i suppose u can sit on your high horses through a computer screen but im sure none of your lives are perfect.

    Report abuse

  37. 37
    Marie

    how exactly does a chipmunk lurk?

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  38. 38
    annette morgan

    LOL! Sooooooooo Silly
    Killer Chipmunks ?????????????

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  39. 39
    anon

    heard this person interviewed by Jeremy Vine on Radio 2 this lunchtime – definitely a slow news day.
    ps phone 551155 and you can get the sofa taken to the tip

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  40. 40
    Mickey_MeerKAT

    If she asks the Social,they will give her a home in which to keep the Chipmonk in her garden,they may also build her a smoking den which may protect her baby from smoke.Also provide her with extra money for Chipmonk food AND a Pouffe to match the sofa.

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  41. 41
    WOLVESDAZ

    Thieving git had my wheels going down ruskin road the other night give it a couple of weeks he will be in to car jacking

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  42. 42
    billySWing

    I have it on good authority,that this Chipmunk didn’t come to Britain via EuroTunnel.
    It flew S7 Airlines from Novosibirsk to Moscow,and from Moscow to Heathrow with BMI.It then took the National Express coach up to Wolverhampton,where a short Taxi ride took it to Scotlands.

    Report abuse

  43. 43
    Sarah Rusty#1

    I feel sorry for the chipmunk. if he sues her for passive smoking then im on HIS side.

    Report abuse



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