A WOMAN whose hens and ducks were taken from a coop in her back garden believes they have been killed to ‘blood’ dogs used in fighting.

Six hens and the ducks went missing from the hen house behind Tracey Beattie’s home on the main road through Harelaw, near Stanley, in County Durham.

Her partner, Glen Thompson, found the cages empty when he went to feed the birds on Saturday morning.

Mrs Beattie said: “There were no hens, no ducks; there were feathers, but no birds.

“We had a look and there are paw prints that are too big for a fox and the wrong shape, and people’s footprints that are not ours. The shoes prints are in the chicken coops. What they have done is gone in and put a little dog in to chase them out the other side.

“It is disgusting. We are really shocked. I have horses as well and am worried about them too if this is the mentality of people.”

Ms Beattie said posts on Facebook made her believe that her pets were sacrificed to train fighting dogs to make them more aggressive by giving them a taste for blood.

She said: “When I spoke to the police they said they think it is possibly linked to dog-fighting.

“I am sickened that our pets have been savaged like this while we were just in the house. I can see the coop from the window. If they are teaching dogs to do that, what if they go for a small child? They could go for anything.”

Ms Beattie, a 46-year-old beautician, said the birds were family pets loved by her family’s six children and seven grandchildren.

She said: “We have had them from chicks. A lot of people in the area are grandparents and come down with bread to feed them. They were really tame birds and would come up to you.”

Police are carrying out an investigation into the incident, which is being treated as theft.

Ms Beattie said: “We think there are three dogs involved. One is small enough to get in the coop and one of them is massive judging by the size of the footprints. We do not see it as theft, we see it as cruelty. Those birds were slaughtered.”

Anyone with information can call the police non-emergency number, 101.