A KILLER dog wreaked havoc among a flock of free-range geese, ducks and hens - some of them rare breeds - in a field near Pershore.

Finding the dead and dying birds scattered about the field left owner Elaine Connor absolutely devastated.

"I don't think I have stopped crying since and I am in a total state of shock," Ms Connor said on Monday.

It was when she went to the field at Wyre from her home at Wick last Friday evening to shut the birds up for the night that she discovered the carnage.

"Normally when I open the gate the birds come running because they know there is food about," she said. "This time nothing happened and when I got into the field there were bodies everywhere and as I walked down the field there was a large dog there attacking the birds."

Scores of the 120-strong flock were killed or had to be destroyed because of their injuries, and Ms Connor said it was particularly upsetting because many of the birds had been hatched and raised by her. Nine geese, each sitting on 14 eggs and which were within a week of hatching, were lost, along with their nests.

Neighbours unaware of what had happened found some of the geese scattered over a wide area during the weekend.

The dog, she said, was almost as big as a Great Dane, with a mainly white body with brown flecking. No-one locally recognised the description and so she thought it might belong to a holiday-maker. "It must have been covered in blood when it went back to its owner, so someone somewhere knows something about it," she said.

She added while it was still free, having tasted blood, it was a danger particularly to lambs and possibly to children as well.

Ms Connor started her hobby of keeping poultry with four chickens and the flock just grew with people turning up with all sorts, and she developed a particular interest in rare breeds.