FIVE-year-old Chloe Horton this week wrote a goodbye note to the animal friends she would never see again..

The cattle and sheep at Temple Farm in East Cowton were diagnosed with foot-and-mouth disease on Tuesday and the slaughter began almost immediately.

Animal-lover Chloe wrote a short letter in crayon to say farewell to the sheep and cows she cared for so much. It reads: "I am missing you, Sooty and Mummy Snowy sheep, and Floppy. I love you".

Chloe's mother, Mrs Helen Horton, said: "She is missing her dad as well. We left the farm on Tuesday as soon as we found out, so the girls haven't seen him since."

Mrs Horton will never forget the day the news came - it was her birthday. "Within half an hour of opening my cards, my husband Tony came in and said we had to go.

"We had always said that if the worst happened, I would take the girls to my mother's in the village so they didn't see the animals go.

"It's my youngest girl's fourth birthday on Tuesday, and all she wants is a kiss and a cuddle from her Daddy."