An 80-year-old father has died, while his son has been hospitalised following the bites of a squirrel they rescued by the road side and took home as a pet.

Dr Benedict Boateng of the Breman Asikuma Catholic Hospital, who tried to save the life of the farmer, has blamed the death on septicaemia, (blood poisoning by bacteria from the rodent) which is highly fatal.

He has, therefore, advised the citizenry, especially farmers, to seek early hospital treatment when bitten by domestic, game and wild animals.

They should not ignore the bites squirrels, grass cutters, rats, cats or dogs.

He explained that these bites could introduce bacteria and germs into the blood stream leading to poisoning.

In an interview with the GNA, Dr Boateng said a team of doctors at the hospital was assembled to work round the clock to save the life of the farmer, who was rushed there in an unconscious state, but he passed on.

His eight-year-old primary one son is, however, responding to treatment.

When the GNA visited him, the cheerful-looking boy responded to questions from the hospital administrator, Mr Takyi Ansah, who took the GNA reporter round to ascertain the truth.

Kwadwo Abudu, who hails from Kuntanase in the Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa District, said his father found the animal by the roadside, covered in soldier ants, and decided to rescue it for a pet.

He said in the deceased’s bid to remove the ants, the squirrel bit his finger but he managed to send the animal home.

However, three days, later while he (Abudu) was trying to feed the animal, he was also bitten by the pet.

The squirrel has, however, returned into the wild.

According to Wikipedia, Squirrels belong to a large family of small or medium-sized rodents called the Sciuridae. The family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels, chipmunks, marmots (including woodchucks), flying squirrels, and prairie dogs. Squirrels are indigenous to the Americas, Eurasia, and Africa and have been introduced to Australia.

In Ghana, they are considered as game, and a delicacy in areas they are mostly found.

They are also a pest to farmers, uprooting groundnuts and destroying some foodstuffs.