Raccoons, however, can be vaccinated, and it was primarily the raccoon's presence in the house that made the squirrel any degree of risk.

That said, regardless of statistics, regardless of what is normal, regardless of pretty much anything, protocol for being bitten by an unvaccinated mammal is basically universal: you cut its head off, and you see if it has rabies.

There are a lot of different issues going on here, and I think that the state response did not need to be as heavy-handed in its approach as it was, but ultimately an untrained man decided to run an unlicensed animal rescue and used a charismatic squirrel as a source of income. If he had gotten the required permits, this would not have happened.