by Dan Bloom

Nutty villagers have paid their respects
to Sparky - the tragic squirrel fried on power
lines.

Poor Sparky caused a buzz when he got trapped in
the electric lines for two months.

Residents of Stone-in-Oxney near Tenterden were so moved by his
plight they created a roadside grave.

Reading "RIP Sparky", it was adorned with flowers and topped by
Sparky's carcass - which EDF workers had knocked down with a
stick.

Now the critter who bit off more than he could chew has been
laid to rest at the local Ferry Inn.

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Wake is held for Sparky
the squirrel

Villagers gathered last night for a wake in the pub, surrounding
a wooden coffin containing a bag of the squirrel's ashes.

Neighbour Tim Homewood, 66, assured them Sparky had been given a
respectful "private cremation".

Ferry Inn landlord Paul Withers-Green laid on curry for the
mourners, assuring them it didn't contain squirrel meat.

"We're looking for closure," he explained. "Enough time's been
spent now on Sparky and it's time to lay him to rest."

But shockingly the squirrel seems to have come back from the
dead - he has set up a Facebook profile with more than 100
friends.

Sparky Grey claims he went to the "School of squirrels" and
worked at "Nuts 'R' Us" until January. His favourite game is "hide
the nuts".

Neighbour Jack Wiltshire, 12, said he and his friends first
noticed the squirrel on the school bus.

"I saw it first," he said. "I thought, 'I bet his jaw hurt a
bit!'"

"It was weird how he got a grave but I liked it. We'll miss
Sparky a lot."

But one villager said there was a serious side to the tale.

The resident, who wouldn't give his name as he works for the
government, said: "I'm thinking of putting it forward as an
official Health and Safety poster: 'Are you live, or are you
alive?'

"It highlights the danger of overhead power lines. That could
happen just as easily to a person as a squirrel."

And a card from "great-uncle Nutkin and great-aunt Hazel" was
equally mournful.

"He is now in squirrel heaven," they wrote. "Where all the trees
have nuts and all the power supplies are 110 volts."

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