Children questioned over slaughter of pets

8:51am Monday 7th July 2008

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By Lucy Richardson »

FOUR children have been interviewed by police after more than 100 animals were found butchered on an allotment.

Geese, ducks, chickens, ferrets and goats were slaughtered on the allotments in Guisborough, east Cleveland.

Blood-soaked weapons were found nearby, including a crowbar, claw hammer, garden rake and a hoe, which had been used with such force it had bent out of shape.

A spokeswoman for Cleveland Police said that four children, a 12-year-old girl, two 12- year-old boys and a 13-year-old boy, have been interviewed under police caution.

Neil Porritt, the 46-year-old owner of Springfield allotments, in Rectory Lane, said he was shocked by what happened.

He said: "I got a phone call from a friend asking me to come to the allotment.

"There were dead ducks, fluffy white chicks and goslings lying everywhere.

"There were animals with broken limbs, some limping, some dying - it was absolute carnage."

He found a hen with a broken back, others with smashed hips, broken legs and some that had been struck with such force that their wings were ripped off.

"We have a drake which had been with his partner for three years," said Mr Porritt.

"They had beaten the female to death, but we found the drake still sat beside her.

"Whoever did this must have been in a frenzy, just attacking any animal they saw.

"There was a baby goat which had a cut on his head. It was found in a greenhouse which had its windows smashed. It had also been pelted with eggs."

Mr Porritt said one of the goats, Coco, belonged to his four-year-old step-grandson Jack Everton.

"We bottled-fed the goat kids from when they were two-days-old after their mother died," he said. "That's one of the worst things, having to tell Jack that the animals have been murdered."

Father-of-two Mr Porritt, who mentors trainees at the Wildlife Trust and who is a former pub doorman, believes the allotments, which he has had for 20 years, had been targeted for up to two months before the attack.

Days before the attack, eight geese went missing although, one has since returned, while the corpses of others have now been found.

Mr Porritt estimates the attack will cost £3,000 in vets bills and losses.