A REOPENED abattoir at Aiskew has come under fire again over the escape of another animal.

The general manager of the Northern Counties Meat plant has emphatically denied a claim that a pig which escaped into an adjoining field last Friday was killed or stunned as upset toddlers looked on from a nearby garden.

He has acknowledged, however, that there is a problem with security fencing at the premises behind Rigby Terrace, reopened in April to kill pigs and sheep released from local farms under licence for welfare reasons during the foot-and-mouth emergency. The abattoir closed in 1997 after its owners failed to get permission for a cattle cremator during the BSE crisis.

Public concern about abattoir security was sparked three months ago after a tusked boar got out and ran around the immediate area before it was finally cornered on the A1 north of Leeming Bar. Residents said it could have been dangerous for any children playing in the back lane of Rigby Terrace.

After that incident the parish council said residents expected improvements such as repairs to an abattoir boundary fence for safety reasons.

Ms Shelley Padmore, of Rigby Terrace, said her two-year-old daughter Jordyn was one of five children playing in her back garden when another pig escaped into the field immediately behind the houses last Friday.

"I was in the bathroom when I heard squealing that was so loud I knew something was out. Because the children were in the back yard I went downstairs to see this pig running loose, trampling weeds in the field as it came right up to the garden fence.

"It ran round for about ten minutes until a woman came out of the abattoir, followed by two men. The pig was still squealing when they surrounded it, but about two seconds later it shut up and was dragged back into the abattoir by the ears by one of the men.

"The woman was adamant that nothing had been done to it, but we think it was killed or stunned in the field. The kids were very upset. I just told them the pig was sleeping.

"The fencing at the side of the abattoir is practically non-existent. It needs repairing before something else gets out."

Abattoir general manager Mr Barry Tyler said the incident was confined to the field and there was no danger to the public.

"It was a small weaner pig which could not harm anybody and it could hardly be seen because it was in a field with long grass.

"In no way, shape or form was it harmed in the open. We have a vet on site who would not allow that to happen. It was carried back in by a Meat and Livestock Commission representative and killed inside the premises."

Mr Tyler added: "We do have a problem with fencing but it has been caused by children pulling it down. We are taking steps to resolve that."

l A smell described by local people as "putrid and disgusting" in the area of the abattoir over the weekend has been attributed by the health department of Hambleton council to chicken manure spread on fields behind the premises.