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LIFE STYLE EXTRA (UK) - Nature lovers fear squirrels could become hooked on crack cocaine plundered from addicts' hidden stashes.
The creatures are thought to be behind a new drugs turf war in Brixton, south London, stealing crack rocks hidden in suburban front gardens.
Tough police action to rid the town centre of dealers and addicts has seen crackheads abandon their usual drug stash hideouts.
But the blitz has displaced some dealing into nearby residential streets.
Drug addicts are known to be hiding small stashes of crack rocks in people's front lawns late at night.
Squirrels have been spotted in the same front gardens, seemingly hunting out the buried narcotics.
The discovery has led some residents to speculate that the squirrels are already in the grips of addiction.
They fear the drugs problem has created a new zoological phenomenon known as the Brixton Crack Squirrel.
One central Brixton resident, who asked for his name to be withheld, said "I was chatting with my neighbour who told me that crack users and dealers sometimes use my front garden to hide bits of their stash.
"An hour earlier I'd seen a squirrel wandering round the garden, digging in
the flowerbeds.
"It looked like it knew what it was looking for.
"It was ill-looking and its eyes looked bloodshot but it kept on desperately digging. It was almost as if it was trying to find hidden crack rocks."
Crack squirrels are a recognised phenomena in America.
They are known to live in parks frequented by addicts in New York and Washington DC.
The squirrels have been known to attack other park visitors in their frenzied search for their next fix.
A spokeswoman for the RSPCA said she had yet to hear of Brixton Crack Squirrels but it would not be out of character for an animal that is well known for foraging.
"We have not had any dealers reporting the theft of their stash by squirrels but the animal is attracted by smell and if it detects something it likes it will dig it up.
"If a squirrel did open a bag of crack and start consuming it there is no doubt it would die pretty quickly.
"I suspect that nobody has reported it because they are a wild animal and when they are found dead no-one cares."
