Tired of grieving over slaughtered birds, Mrs. Elizabeth Wingate has decided she will no longer replace them.

Yesterday morning she wept after she discovered six hens and a rooster had disappeared. They were all she had left after a series of dog attacks.

The bodies of the rooster and four hens lay near her home, and she believes the others have also been killed.

"Over the years I must have had two peacocks, four ducks, umpteen chickens and the odd rabbit killed,'' she said. "For the last five years it seems to have been getting worse.

"You fence the chickens in and hope, but the dogs get in after a while and suddenly they're all gone.

"I was in tears. It's so frustrating. People get these great big dogs and then don't take responsibility for them.'' Mrs. Wingate, of Harbour Road, said one chicken was disembowelled and chewed in the latest raid. The others had just been killed.

"Half the time these are just well-fed dogs that are just having fun.'' She kept the chickens for eggs and fertiliser and "recycling''.

"I like having pets. But I don't think there's any point in getting any more chickens. They just get killed.

"I'll have to build a castle to keep the dogs out.'' PET MASSACRE -- Mrs. Elizabeth Wingate with chickens she says were killed by roaming dogs.