French chipmunks carrying potentially fatal diseases ready to invade Britain

Beware: The chipmunks could bring Lyme disease and rabies to Britain

It may look cute and cuddly, but this little rodent is dangerous - and heading our way.

Thousands of chipmunks carrying potentially fatal diseases have been spreading west across Europe and have reached Paris.

Many carry ticks infected with the Borrelia bacterium that causes Lyme disease, a nerve illness that can disable and even kills victims if not treated early enough.

French experts warn that the animals, which can also carry rabies, could soon reach Calais and sneak aboard vehicles and vessels heading to Britain.

Officials have also warned tourists not to smuggle them into the UK as pets.

Some unscrupulous French pet shops are offering chipmunks for less than £10 each, despite repeated warnings of the danger.

Naturalist Guy Bruel said: 'Everything is being done to control this rodent, but the public must be on its guard at all times.

'There is a particular problem in the woods around Paris, attributed mainly to people who bought the animals as family pets and then got rid of them. This is just the type of behaviour that will lead to the chipmunk getting to Britain in huge numbers, possibly as early as this summer.'

Wildlife experts are pressing the French government to ban such sales.

Researcher Jean Louis Chapuis said: 'They should not be up for sale. Lyme disease is a terrible condition, and the chipmunks are a major carrier.

'These rodents are not shy, and in fact very approachable.'

Although everything has been done to control the Siberian chipmunk - Tamias sibiricus - in the UK, they spread very rapidly once established.

They were first imported from Asia in the 1970s and are now on the European Union's list of 100 most-invasive species.

In 1980 17 chipmunks were released at a park in Brussels. They bred in the wild and in 20 years numbered nearly 20,000.

The number in northern France is currently estimated at more than 100,000.

With the British coastline just 22 miles away at the nearest point, the situation is becoming critical.