A petting farm owner has been left ‘heartbroken’ after six ducklings were stolen by burglars in an early morning raid.<br /><br />Suzie Wright, 41, said the baby mallards, which are just three to four weeks old, had been snatched from her Little Haven Farm at around 2am on Sunday (June 9).<br /><br />She said the intruders broke in through a side gate of the estate in Hedon, Hull, and scooped up the golden-coloured Cherry Valley ducks from an outdoor pen. <br /><br />They were then “scared off” by her family's pet Labrador Penny - with police now appealing for anyone with information of the incident to come forward.<br /><br />Devastated Suzie hoped those responsible for taking the birds, which she had rescued, did not have any “sinister” ambitions and would return them.<br /><br />She said: “It’s heartbreaking, and it's worrying for us about the safety of the animals that we still have. <br /><br />“You don’t want someone to come onto your property without permission, you don’t want them to come and help themselves to your animals.<br /><br />“Then you’ve got the worry of what’s going to happen to those animals now they are gone and why they have been taken.<br /><br />“We’re hoping that someone has taken them selfishly because they want some ducks of their own to have at their house - and not for more sinister reasons."<br /><br />Suzie, who has dozens of rescue animals at her petting farm - including reindeer, goats and rabbits - said those who snatched the ducks avoided the CCTV cameras.<br /><br />And she believes they must have known where they were being kept as the birds had been moved just days early.<br /><br />She said: “We’d only just moved them to their outdoor enclosure with some water to get them accustomed to being in a pond.<br /><br />“So whoever has stolen them must have known where they were at that point and planned to come and take them the way they did. <br /><br />"They’ve broken in through our side gate entrance and then opened up the pens.<br /><br />"We have absolutely no idea who they are. Our dog disturbed them, we believe. She scared them off. But they had managed to take the ducklings.”<br /><br />She added: "There had been quite a lot of interest in them... People were able to stroke them."<br /><br />Suzie said the farm was now on ‘high alert’ in case the burglars attempted to take more of the animals.<br /><br />She said: “It’s an invasion of privacy, so it’s disconcerting across the board.<br /><br />“Now we’re on high alert making sure nobody comes back to try and take anything else.”<br /><br />A spokesperson from Humberside Police said their investigations into the incident were ongoing.<br /><br />They said: “Enquiries are underway after six ducklings were reportedly stolen in a burglary at a farm on Havenside in Hedon.<br /><br />"The burglary took place at around 2am on Sunday 9 June when someone allegedly broke into the farm and took the ducklings from inside the grounds.<br /><br />"Anyone with any information about the burglary or the whereabouts of the ducklings is asked to call our non-emergency 101 line quoting crime reference 24*80063.”
