Firefighters called to a blazing skip found it contained lambs which had been deliberately set alight, a brigade spokesman said today.
Officers had put out the flames and were damping down the skip fire at a municipal tip in County Durham shortly after 8pm last night before they realised it was not rubbish but animal carcases.
Station Officer Dave Turnbull said: "An officer shone a torch into the bottom of the skip and warning bells rang straight away."
The crew, based in Stanhope, County Durham, were decontaminated after the find amid worries that the animals had been dumped because they had contracted foot-and-mouth disease.
Ministry of Agriculture officials were today beginning an investigation and a police officer was stationed overnight by the skip near Frosterley, in Weardale.
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