An extremely rare rodent has been spotted squirrelling around in a Croydon park by a young family on a day out.

The albino squirrel, one of the world’s rarest rodents, was spotted by senior compliance assistant Jonathan Haasz and his family in South Croydon recreation ground lolling about in the sunshine.

The bushy-tailed rodent seemed to have no fear of the borough’s residents as it scurried around the park.

Albino squirrels do not live long due to their bright colour which are easily spotted by predators.

They have pink eyes and the albinism is caused by a melanin deficiency.

Only 10 in every one million squirrels are born with albinism.

Mr Haasz, 26, said: “My family and I have just moved to the area near Purley Oaks Road.

“We were visiting Purley Oaks Primary to have a look around but were early so went to the park with my step son Ethan and daughter Isabella.

“My partner Nicola said ‘look there’s an albino squirrel,’ but by that time it had climbed up a tree so I thought she was joking; but she was adamant she saw an albino squirrel, then about five minutes later it came down and was just sitting in the park with all the children and people around, not seeming at all bothered by human presence.

“I managed to get the photos of it on my phone and there were quite a lot of other people around who seemed interested in it as well.”

Albinism is caused by a group of inherited genes. Rare squirrels can also be found in pure black which is caused by melanism – the opposite of Albinism.

A spokesman for Croydon Council said: “Our award-winning parks support a wide variety of wildlife and we are always delighted to hear that they are attracting rarer species too.

“They could not pick a better borough to move to.”

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