Ottawa has issued an unusual deportation order, demanding that an unwelcome squirrel be sent home. In its defence, the tiny rodent has a lawyer, a legal defence fund and its local MP all working on its behalf.

Sabrina the flying squirrel came to Canada with an Ontario naturalist three months ago.

Hoping to take her to presentations he gives to children, The Globe and Mail reports that 51-year-old Steve Patterson went to great lengths to get Sabrina into Canada -- through what he believed were the proper channels.

Although Sabrina's species, glaucomys sabrinus, runs free in the Canadian wilderness, it's illegal to catch one here. In the United States, however, they can be bought as pets.

So, Patterson filled out a pile of forms and headed south to Ratkateers Rodentry in Indiana, where he paid $150 US to walk away with his new friend.

Back home in Mississauga, Ont., Patterson and Sabrina were just settling in when the Canadian Food Inspection Agency called.

Unbeknownst to Patterson, the CFIA had rules that forbid importing a whole range of animals believed to be at risk of contracting or carrying monkeypox.

The ban was imposed in 2003, in response to a U.S. scare in which it was suspected animals imported from Africa had passed the disease to as many as 80 Americans. All those infected recovered.

Even though Sabrina was free of monkeypox, the federal regulator wanted her gone. The force of their conviction became clear the following day when Patterson received a formal notice that he had to drive the squirrel to the U.S. border.

Horrified by the prospect of relinquishing an animal he had by then bonded with -- like a mother to its child, he said -- he refused.

When CFIA officials arrived at his door with police backup a few weeks later, Patterson wasn't home.

But he was mad.

Mississauga MP Carolyn Parrish got involved on his behalf, imploring intransigent officials to cut the tiny rodent some slack. Ottawa's squirrel-deportation effort was, she said, "an absolute example of government waste."

Their arguments held little sway, however. Instead of settling the matter, Patterson and Sabrina found themselves in a growing fight.

Arguing that Sabrina's entry might set a precedent that would cause "irreparable harm" to Canada, the Attorney General of Canada took the pair to court.

Vowing to fight the feds to the end, Patterson didn't shirk the challenge. Instead, he set up an online petition, hired Toronto lawyer Clayton Ruby and even established the Save Sabrina Legal Defence Fund to help pay the four-month-old rodent's legal fees.

When the case went before the Federal Court of Canada, Madam Justice Elizabeth Heneghan ruled it was "doubtful" whether the government had even "shown that a serious issue exists here."

Ruby, who has built a career defending clients in some of Canada's highest-profile trials, was proud of his win.

"At the moment, it's 'Squirrel one, Canada nothing,' " he beamed in an interview with The Globe and Mail.

But the victory celebration was cut short when Ottawa declared its intention to appeal Judge Heneghan's "perverse and capricious" decision.

The date for the appeal has not been set.