Rocky the pet squirrel is lassoed by red tape as officials say his host family is not allowed to keep him

INDIANA -- An Indiana woman who rescued a baby squirrel after his nest was accidentally chainsawed in half is being forced to give him up.

Sara Householder has been looking after Rocky the squirrel since March after a tree surgeon sawed through the nest he was in, killing his mother.

Having fed him from a syringe from just a few days old, Ms Householder may now be forced to hand Rocky over to authorities because they say she hasn't got a licence for the animal.

The irony is that Rocky only came to their attention when Ms Householder tried to get a licence, and was then told she had to apply for one before getting the animal.

Authorities say she has now breached the rules and will have to hand Rocky over to a licensed animal rehabilitator by next week.

A tearful Householder told Wane TV: 'I raised him from an infant. I fed him through a syringe every two hours. I will do whatever  it takes to keep my baby.'

The tragic accident happened while Housholder's mother-in-law was having some trees removed. Householder says she didn't want to keep the squirrel, but took him in out of kindness.

She said: 'I couldn't let him lie there and die, he was only a few days old, I'm not going to leave him out in the freezing cold in the middle of March.'

But after a while she became attached to Rocky, bought him his own cage and feeds him his favourite snack of Reese's Pieces.

She says he is now part of the family, even getting on with their other animals.

An Animal Care and Control officer even visited the home to check on Rocky, and said everything was fine.

However Phil Bloom, a spokesman for the Department for Natural Resources, said 'If someone feels the need to save that animal, which is usually not necessary, the proper and legal way to take care of that is to turn that animal over to a licenses wild animal rehabilitator within 24 hours.'

(Daily Mail - Sept 27, 2013)