By Lucy Buckland

lucy.buckland@essnmedia.co.uk

Some might consider rats, mice and ferrets to be filthy vermin but a woman who has set up a sanctuary for them, says she would rather have her animals than a man.

Emma Semple runs Furry Friends - one of a handful of vermin only animal rescue centres in the UK - from her home in The Glades, Old Coulsdon.

The 31-year-old takes in unwanted rodents and ferrets from the RSPCA and tries to rehouse them.

This week alone she took in 50 abandoned mice.

"Years ago if someone would have told me I would be looking after rats, ferrets and mice I would have thought 'how disgusting'," she said.

"But one day a ferret ran under my car and I looked at her, saw she had been abandoned, took her home and fell in love with her."

Having her little friends in her life means Miss Semple, who lives with her mum and brother, is more than happy to remain single.

She said: "I love my animals and doing what I do. I don't care what anyone thinks about me.

"At the end of the day I don't want a man, I have my ferrets."

*For more on this story see today's (Friday's) Croydon Advertiser.