A US man allegedly trained up his very own 'attack squirrel' by giving it meth to make it aggressive. Now, I bet that's a sentence you didn't think you'd be reading today, isn't it?
Cops from Limestone County, Alabama, say that Mickey Paulk kept the cute little animal in a cage in his home and fed it drugs to make it jumpy and aggressive.
Police arrived at the property on Monday to execute a search warrant after receiving reports that Paulk was keeping a squirrel there and giving it drugs.
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Sheriff's spokesman Stephen Young told AL.com via a news release: "Prior to the search warrant, investigators were informed that Mickey Paulk kept an 'attack squirrel' inside his apartment, and that Paulk fed the squirrel meth to keep it aggressive."
The search turned up meth, drug paraphernalia, body armour and the squirrel in question.
Thirty-five-year-old Paulk wasn't present at the time police came calling, but instead they found another man, 37-year-old Ronnie Reynolds. He was arrested and charged with possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, and loitering at a known drug house.
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He was taken to Limestone County jail and was later released on $4,000 bail.
A warrant has been issued for Paulk, on charges of possession of a controlled substance, unlawful possession of a firearm and possession of drug paraphernalia, AL.com reports.
After cops discovered the squirrel, they called animal control out to the property, who called the Alabama Game and Fish Division of the Department of Conservation for help.
The department told officers it was illegal to keep a squirrel as a pet and recommended that they release it back into the wild as soon as possible.
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The animal wasn't tested for drug consumption, with Sheriff Mike Blakey's office, quite rightly, explaining that there is 'no safe way to test the squirrel for meth'.
Thankfully for the little fella, there's a happy ending - he was successfully released into the wild and is presumably gone clean now.
This isn't the first time someone has allegedly roped an innocent animal into a life of crime - earlier this year it was reported that police in Brazil had seized a 'lookout parrot', that shouted out to its owners to alert them of cops.
The bird was heard to shout 'mama, police!' when officers raided a house on a drug bust.
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Speaking to Ultimo Segundo, Major Mello of the Military Police 17th Battalion said: "He must have been trained for that.
"He began to scream as soon as the police approached."
During the raid one of residents of the house was found to have four packages of crack cocaine.
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The parrot was rescued and sent to a zoo where it was set to spend three months learning how to fly before, hopefully, being released into the wild.
Featured Image Credit: Limestone County Sheriff's Office