A popular animal centre in West Lothian has been forced to ban dogs after an "aggressive" pup killed a guinea pig on the site before the owners sped off and swore at staff.
The incident took place on March 10 at Almond Valley Heritage Centre in Livingston and imposed stricter rules including no dog zones around small animal enclosures.
But after excessive dog fouling and similar incidents to the heartbreaking loss of the rodent over Easter, a ban has been put in place from May 1 to protect the animals.
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Speaking to Edinburgh Live Director, Dr Robin Chesters said: "We didn't want things to come to this, at first we put signs up around areas where smaller animal enclosures were and at first it was fine but over the Easter holidays there were more similar incidents.
"None of them were as bad and many involved dog fouling - when you are hunting for Easter eggs you don't want to find that.
"There seems to be a lot more dog owners visiting and many don't seem to be experienced dog owners. We are gutted and have not taken this decision lightly but have now joined most animal parks in Scotland and had to ban all dogs from the site apart from guide dogs."
Taking to Facebook to make customers aware the farm shared a post in March and wrote: "Dogs are much-loved members of the family, and it would be a real pity if one of the family had to stay at home while everyone else enjoyed a day out at Almond Valley.
"We've always been sympathetic to the many people who want to visit with their dog, and it's long been our policy that well-behaved dogs are welcome, providing they remain on a short lead and kept away from the more sensitive residents of the farm.
"This used to work well, but a number of recent incidents have caused us to question our relaxed approach.
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It continued: "But the worst happened today. A number of visitors alerted us to a noisy small dog that was running loose around the farm, its owners seemingly doing nothing to control it.
"Our CCTV has recorded five minutes of terror in the animal shed in which a noisy aggressive little dog ran around the pens barking and jumping; focussing his attention on Lola, our heavily pregnant miniature donkey.
"The dog then moved onto Wings and Whiskers and killed a guinea pig The owners of the dog were approached as they were about to leave our car park, and the consequence of their thoughtless actions were politely explained to them."
Finally, it added: "There were plenty of apologies - they had lost their dog's lead – they were very, very sorry; however words shouted from the window of the car as it sped away suggested otherwise."
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “We were made aware of a dog having attacked a guinea pig at Almond Valley Heritage Centre in Livingston on Monday, 13 March, with the incident having happened on Saturday, 11 March.
“The circumstances were referred to the local authority’s dog warden.”
You can find out more about Almond Valley Park here.
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