Pet slaughter horror

They took the pets from their cages in a Rotherham garden before cutting them up and throwing the remains over cars, gardens and through letter-boxes.

It has left the family devastated – especially 12-year-old Marcus and seven-year-old Georgie who owned the two rabbits.

Today, their mum, Paula Beard, branded the thugs “sick”.

“It is beyond belief that anyone would do this,” said the 37-year-old, of Yearling Chase, Swinton. “We are all terribly upset by what has happened and can’t think why they did it.

“At first we thought the pets may have been stolen because someone wanted them for themselves, but then we heard about the remains being strewn around and we felt sick. We are sure it is our pets that have been killed.

“We hope this person or people responsible will be caught because it has caused a lot of upset. I have had to tell the children because they will hear about it from other people. It’s not been a very nice task and they are very upset.”

Paula had spent much time, money and love getting together her collection of two rabbits and seven guinea pigs, which she was breeding. Four of the guinea pigs were pregnant.

RSPCA spokeswoman Soph-ie Corless said: “This sounds horrible. We received a call from the police asking for advice on how to deal with the situation. We are not directly involved in the investigation and it is a police matter.”

The pets were taken from the family home between last Friday evening and 6am on Saturday. Cages were shaken to get the pets out, but one guinea pig escaped and is being looked after by Paula.

At about 9.30am on Saturday, police received reports that animal remains had been found on cars, in gardens and pushed through letterboxes on Poplar Drive in nearby Wath.

A police spokesman said: “We believe the two incidents may be linked and investigations are continuing.”