A FAMILY today spoke of their horror when their pet dog died after eating seeds from a holiday souvenir which their son had been playing with.

And today holidaymakers were warned that the highly poisonous seeds found inside Caribbean musical instruments could kill humans.

Oliver Hunt, aged 22 months, was playing with the brightly coloured maraca in his high chair at home in Tresco Close, Blackburn, when he banged it, the red beans spilled out.

Family dogs Molly and Coco ate them. Molly became seriously ill and died four days later ill while Coco, who had not eaten as many seeds, suffered diarrhoea but recovered.

The maracas had been a present to the family from Oliver's aunt, Michelle Barlow, who bought them from a beach seller when she was married on the Caribbean island of Antigua in October 1994.

"The beans looked poisonous," said Oliver's mother, Jackie. "They were bright red with a black spot on them.

"I took one of the seeds to the vet to show him and he said that I had better take them to be analysed. The vet called in Environmental Health who handed them over to Trading Standards. A report came back saying they are highly poisonous. "We were obviously very, very shocked and upset at losing Molly, but it's frightening when you think it could have been my son that had eaten them.

"And my sister said that everyone was buying them from the beach seller because they were really the only things to take home as souvenirs.

"There could be hundreds and hundreds around the country and children will be playing with them. And they are only made of coconut shells and can break quite easily."

Lancashire Trading Standards today warned people about the seeds, which are called jequirity seeds and contain a protein called Abrus - a powerful poison.

A spokesman said: "We are aware of a number of incidents involving highly poisonous jequirity seeds and, with the current fashion for craft items, parents should take care when buying exotic items containing beads or seeds as they may be poisonous.

"Luckily the dogs not the child ate these brightly coloured seeds."

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