ALLOTMENT holders in Great Ayton are experiencing an increasing number of problems with foxes attacking livestock, according to the parish councillors responsible for managing the plots.

In the past three months about 100 hens, 15 geese and some ducks have been found dead in the coops off Guisborough Road.

Councillor Peter Bell said the area had been plagued by foxes during the past six months but the problem had worsened over the last three months.

He said: "Men spend a lot of time rearing these birds and it is soul-destroying when a fox gets in and destroys them all."

Up to ten allotment holders have been affected by the increasing number of fox attacks.

Coun Bell raised the issue at Great Ayton Parish Council after he heard a rumour that the RSPCA had been releasing foxes from urban area into the countryside.

The council clerk wrote to the organisation asking if this was the case. In its reply it categorically denied this was one of its policies.

A spokesman said: "When we treat wildlife like foxes we always try to release them in the area they were found so they are in their own territory.

"We do not relocate urban foxes in rural areas. That is an urban myth."