Four resplendent Siberian chipmunks with their pouched cheeks and striped fur are wanted dead or alive after fleeing from an enclosure in southern England, a British newspaper reported on Thursday.
About 30 chipmunks escaped from Wellington Country Park and four are thought still to be on the run, the Daily Mail said.
The Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said the chipmunks are quite harmless to humans, but could muscle out wood mice and bank voles in the fight for seeds, nuts and berries.
They are also known to scoff chicks and birds’ eggs.
It is feared they could multiply and begin to dominate, as grey squirrels did to the cost of native red squirrels when they were introduced in the late 19th century.
The Belgians know all about what chipmunks on the loose can do.
Seventeen were released at a Brussels amusement park in 1980, bred in the wild and by 2000 numbered nearly 20 000, the Daily Mail said.
Following the breakout, 18 of the renegade chipmunks were found dead within days, while eight more were recaptured or shot dead.
A Defra spokesperson said the situation is ”quite worrying”, but added: ”To the best of our knowledge, all the chipmunks have either died or been recaptured.
”We are keeping a very vigilant eye on this particular case. Anything that enters into the English wild can upset the ecosystem.” — Sapa-AFP