By Agency 1:18PM GMT 04 Dec 2014

Villagers are blaming people of “different cultures” for snatching all seven ducks from a village pond for their Christmas dinner.
The resident birds – all Aylesbury-type ducks – had been a familiar sight in sleepy Earith, Cambridgeshire, for years and were quite tame.

A feeding area had recently been built where children could feed them from.

But they all disappeared on consecutive nights over the course of a week, and villagers say some wild ducks and two swans are also missing.

Parish councillor Hazel Lambert, who fed the ducks every day, put up posters around the village warning of the thefts before she found all seven gone.

They said: “DUCKS ON EARITH VILLAGE POND ARE BEING TAKEN AND IT’S NOT BY MR. FOX. FOUR DUCKS HAVE BEEN REMOVED WITHIN THE LAST WEEK. PLEASE KEEP A LOOK OUT.”

Earith lies in a big agricultural area where many migrant workers – predominantly from Eastern Europe – are employed in the fields.

Ms Lambert said: “We had seven old ducks who had been with us for years and were tame resident ducks.

“One night last week one disappeared overnight. Then another went missing, and another, every day until there were none left.

“We had one female duck and the rest are boys, and she had a hobble and was very old.

“If it had been a fox killing them it would have picked her off first so we know it is humans taking them, I think it’s a single individual.

“We can all have thoughts about who it might be that has stolen the ducks, but I don’t want to point the finger.

“All I know is in different cultures the idea of capturing and eating wild fowl is quite normal.

“I suspect they have been taken for the pot, but their meat would be quite tough as they are all elderly.”

Ms Lambert added: “I wouldn’t have minded so much if they had taken some of the wild ducks from nearer the river but these seven ducks were part of the community.

“I did cry when they all went, I couldn’t do anything to stop it.

“We have to decide now whether to replace the ducks because you don’t want to go on replacing ducks that I assume are going to be taken for the pot.”

Of the missing seven resident ducks, four were white, two black and one was black and white speckled.

Mandy Pink, Earith Parish Council Clerk, said: “It’s such a shame. The ducks have been with us for some time.

“We had wild ducklings in springtime and we only have a few ducklings left. We don’t know who is taking the ducks, but someone is capturing them and eating them.

“There are no feathers on the floor and there’s no blood. That means an animal or some kids definitely haven’t hurt them.

“Most of them are old ducks, which means they don’t go very far from the pond.

“So the only option is that people are taking them. There are agricultural workers down here and they would know how to take, kill and eat the birds.

“It’s so upsetting, the children in Earith love them and we just had a special feeding area built.”

Parish councillor Ron Hodge said: “The thought is that it’s migrant workers who are taking them so they can eat them, but there’s just no way to prove it.

“They’ve come in and got a line and a hook with bread on it and lured them in before snatching them.

“It’s one of those things, no one sees it and no one reports it so it keeps happening.”

Fellow councillor Terry Rogers added: “I think if Mr Hodge thinks it’s migrant workers he’s probably right.

“The ducks are not the first things to have been stolen in the village. Let’s just say Christmas is coming up so I’m not surprised the ducks are gone.”

One villager who asked not to be named said: “There are a lot of agricultural workers around here. No one else would bother to steal ducks to eat.

“The likelihood is they’re migrant workers, probably eastern Europeans, as they’re the people who do most of the field work.”

The incidents have not yet been reported to the police.