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Squirrel selfie: Enraged squirrel attempts to maul teenage photographer

Squirrel selfie: A Maine teenager attempting to snap a selfie with a squirrel suddenly became an object of the diminutive rodent's fury.

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Brian Genest/Paula Wright/AP
In the left image, a squirrel approaches Brian Genest as he takes a photo of himself at John Chestnut Park near Tampa, Florida on Saturday. In the right image, taken moments later, the squirrel clings to Genest's back.
  • By Associated Press

| Auburn, Maine

A photo op with a squirrel that went awry has left a teenager flustered but unhurt.

Seventeen-year-old Brian Genest, of Auburn, said Thursday he saw what appeared to be a friendly squirrel on a hand rail while walking through John Chestnut Park near Tampa, Florida. He was on a trip looking at colleges.

Genest took a selfie of himself and the squirrel. But the flash and noises from his camera phone scared the squirrel, which climbed under his shirt and hung onto his back before scampering out.

"He was just in that spot where my arm can't reach him," Genest said. "I threw myself on the ground, and that scared him off."

Genest's mother, Paula Wright, snapped photos of the hoopla, originally posted to his Instagram feed along with his selfie.

Genest had approached the squirrel making clicking sounds with his tongue to get closer. His mother said the spectacle Saturday taught him a lesson.

"I think he got a little lesson from the squirrel that he's not really its buddy," she said.

She said neither her son nor the squirrel was harmed.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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