Nine-year-old girl finds her mum's beloved pet cockerel strangled and dumped in stream

The owner of pet cockerel has spoken out after she found her pet dumped in a stream after it was strangled.

The 10-month-old bird, called Eagley, was raised Sara Tasker in Ripponden.

She said the coop where Eagley kept was secured with several locks and believes "only a human" could have let the pet out and broken its neck in the attack.

"We hand raised him from a day-old disabled chick so he was part of the family," said Sara.

"He was very tame and loving. We put him to bed as usual Monday night and awoke on Tuesday to find somebody had snuck in, unlocked multiple doors/latches to snatch him off his perch and break his neck.

"They threw his body into a nearby stream where my nine-year-old daughter found him."

"Nobody had ever complained but the only reason we can think of is that he recently began to crow at dawn.

"There were 20 hens in the same paddock, but this person specifically went for the coop where Eagley was being kept."

West Yorkshire Police and the RSPCA have been informed and Sara is offering a £500 reward for information too.

A spokesperson for the police said: "On Friday April 22, police received a report of an incident whereby a chicken was found dead near to a property on Lower Mill Bank Road, Sowerby Bridge.