Four alpacas die after being shot in the head

Dawn French hopes information will be shared with police to identify the perpetrator of the "senseless attack"

Four alpacas have been fatally shot in the head with a rifle, police said.

The animals were attacked between 18:00 GMT on Saturday and 08:30 on Sunday in East Hatley, near Gamlingay, Cambridgeshire Police said.

A ewe was attacked by a dog and had to be put down, while another alpaca received a non-fatal gunshot wound to the face, owner Dawn French, 58, said.

Sgt Tom Nuttall, from the rural crime action team, said: "This was a highly distressing crime that has caused death and serious injury to defenceless animals."

Phoebe survived it but has been left with an injury to her face, which Ms French hopes will not lead to permanent paralysis

Ms French has kept the herd of six alpacas and one ewe in a field rented from a farm a couple of miles away from her smallholding at Tadlow for the past six years.

"We got a phone call yesterday morning saying, 'I think you need to come down here but be prepared it's not pretty'," she said.

"We rushed down there and found four alpacas with shots to their heads, very very upsetting, very traumatic - just hideous."

The ewe was so badly mauled by a dog it had to be put down, she said.

The injured alpaca Phoebe was treated by a vet.

Ms French said: "The bullet or shot has caught her on the side of her face and given her quite a nasty wound and paralysis - we're hoping it's just swelling and temporary and the nerve isn't severed in the incident."

Officers from Cambridgeshire Police are investigating the crime

Ms French has kept alpacas for about 15 years and Phoebe was the first one to be bred on the farm.

"We used to have a lot more but now we just had the six as pets - and now we're down to the remaining two," she said.

"They're herd animals and ideally we should have at least three [in a herd], but because we've got sheep we're hoping that's enough."

Other alpaca owners have come forward either offering to lend them an animal or to look after the two remaining ones, if necessary.

The alpacas, which were targeted at the weekend, are herd animals and should ideally be in an herd of at least three animals, said Ms French

Sgt Nuttall said: "I would encourage anyone who knows anything about this offence to get in touch as soon as possible," he added.

Officers have also been carrying out house-to-house inquiries.

Witnesses or anyone with CCTV or dashcam footage from the area at the time should contact police.

Ms French said: "They're lovely creatures, they've all got their own characters and it's just senseless - I can't understand how anyone could think of doing this to animals so sweet, so harmless, so inquisitive."