Albino baby squirrel rescued after being 'blown from tree'

The baby albino squirrel was "very cold and shaken up" but "nothing was broken"

An albino baby squirrel has been rescued after being blown out of a tree in a park.

The four-week-old baby was found by a passer-by on the ground in Hampshire last week and taken to the Wiltshire Wildlife Hospital near Salisbury.

Care supervisor Marilyn Korkis, said the pink-eyed baby was "very cold and shaken up" but "nothing was broken".

She said the team will have to "mull over" whether to release the youngster back into the wild.

The hospital has looked after an albino hedgehog and an albino badger in the past but never an albino squirrel.

'Starve if released'

Ms Korkis said: "There's not much too him - he fits in the palm of my hand - but he's very cheeky and doing well.

"We were very surprised, he's proper albino and very endearing."

It is thought the "autumn baby" was blown out of its tree during the recent high winds.

The "needy" youngster is now being bottle-fed kitten milk and a squirrel mix of beech nuts and hazelnuts.

Ms Korkis said: "Squirrels that age won't have got their store of food together and they'd starve if they were released.

"So he'll spend the winter with us and we'll wait until the spring and get some advice."

Grey squirrels - originally brought to Britain from North America - are now estimated to number around two-and-a-half million, vastly outnumbering the native red squirrel.

Albinos remain a rarity.