Concerns are growing that ‘Satanists’ have returned to the New Forest after the discovery of a lamb with its throat slashed.
The area was put on alert in January and also back in 2019 after pig hearts were ripped out with sheep and cows also culled.
Cats have also reportedly been found spiked on poles by horrified residents.
Villagers fear the individuals who carried out the barbaric occult-style killings may have struck again.
Patrick Langdown, 66, was called to the national park in Hampshire near where he lives after a member of the public made the grim find.
The farmer was shocked and saddened to realise it was one of his own.
He says he has been made aware of a recent incident involving a dead lamb with a bible placed on it.
His two-month-old animal was dumped at a pond, he said.
He told the Telegraph: “There’s been weird things happening in the forest for a while now, with the dead sheep and the cats on poles and all those bits and pieces.
“I did have five sheep killed last year, and their skins were left behind, and in another field, some of my sheep were let out and got poisoned by rhododendron plants.
“It leaves a bitter taste. You don’t sleep. Any bang, any noise, you wonder what is going on. One day, hopefully, they'll make a mistake.”
Andrew Parry-Norton, Chair of the Commoners Defence Association, called the attack “mindless”.
He said: “From a CDA point of view the attacks are horrific but it also create shockwaves throughout the commoning community.
“It is not only a financial loss but the emotional upset it causes. We all worry about our stock as it is, but this is mindless.”
Four years ago, police investigated after a sheep was killed and sprayed with occult symbols, with several cows were also wounded in the woodland.
Rev David Bacon, vicar of Bramshaw, said the attacks on the animals left people "disturbed and scared".
He went on: "We have had very very minor incidents in the past, little bits of graffiti, it doesn't happen very often, nothing like this."
