The furry friend was rescued by kind-hearted contractors from Harvey Environmental Services, of Colne, as they cleared the house in Berkeley Crescent, Padiham.

They have called him Gnarls Barkley, after the pop band, and the street where he was found, and now are nursing him back to health.

Mr Alan Brown said the tiny creature was "on its last legs" when he was found.

"We gave it some water to see if it would drink and it drank for about 10 minutes. We found a bit of food and fed it and within half-an-hour or so it was back on its feet looking OK."

The brown hamster is to stay at Harvey's offices until a permanent home can be found.

Mr Brown added: "If it had been left there much longer it wouldn't have survived. It had been there about a month but it has been running round well and people have been getting attached to it. It is one of the last things we expected to find there."

His boss, Mr Martin Harvey, said: "He's just a big softie."