Ostrich breeder Margaret Lusby is devastated after watching seven of her birds die following a brutal attack by thugs.

Only Doris, a young female, remains alive and Mrs Lusby, 49, who runs an Ostrich farm with her brother in Queensbury, said even she was "on her last legs."

But she has vowed to rebuild the business by rearing 15 newly-hatched chicks.

She had been nursing the battered adult birds round-the-clock after eight of them were attacked in August by intruders who went into the field where they were being kept.

One ostrich died during the night-time attack near the Tong Garden Centre in Bradford and the remaining seven were left with gaping cuts in their bodies after being beaten with chunks of wood.

Mrs Lusby said: "It's absolutely devastating. They have died as a direct result of the attack. The scarring left on the birds was horrendous. It's been like losing a member of the family.

"Oscar, who was our prize breeding male, died from pneumonia. We've all tried to get them outside to exercise them but they were just too weak to walk. Doris is still alive but I don't think she's got long left."

She said ostriches were very nervous and highly strung birds who couldn't tolerate high levels of stress and added her husband Philip took months to settle them in the field before they started to lay eggs again.

The death toll will outrage customers at the garden centre who continually ask about the ostriches' welfare as they had become quite a tourist attraction.

Anyone with information about the attack is asked to call the Odsal police helpdesk on 01274 376658.

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