LONGTON Brickcroft's terrible terrapins have attacked and eaten several baby cygnets.

Staff at the nature reserve, off Liverpool Road, were devastated after the terrapins started to attack the cygnets, which have attracted public attention since their appearance on the south lake earlier this year.

But the fluffy fledglings vanished last week, and rangers were devastated when they realised what the terrapins had done.

Ranger Richard Parkinson said: "It's a great shame. We haven't had many cygnets this year.

"But it just proves the point we made in the Citizen last week, that these terrapins are a real nuisance. They are destroying the natural wildlife of the lake."

Mr Parkinson and fellow rangers have been left seething after the owners of so-called 'pet' terrapins started dumping the reptiles in their lakes when they became too big to look after.

Fortunately new EU legislation has banned the import of such terrapins, who are shipped in from America as designer pets.

Now rangers are planning to haul the terrapins - some of which weigh up to four pounds and are over one foot long - out of the water before they cause any more damage.

Fellow ranger Josh Taylor, based at the Brickcroft, added: "We want to use floating traps to catch them. We will place liver inside the traps to entice them in before we catch them.

"They need to be removed before they cause any more damage." Meanwhile, Richard is currently talking to official agencies in America in the hope the terrapins can be shipped back to their native territory.

As reported in last week's Citizen, Richards hopes to ship the pests back to the States for good.

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