Lambs drown after well lid is removed

A farmer who lost almost 50 lambs after they plunged to their death down a well on a farm in Shropshire today hit out at the culprits who caused the accident by removing a concrete cover.

Clive Taylor, who owns Broomcroft Farm, in Kenley, near Much Wenlock, found 48 of his lambs dead at the bottom of a disused well, which had been covered with a heavy stone slab, while out walking on Sunday.

Today the 62-year-old said the only way the slab could have been moved from the opening of the 8ft deep well was if someone had moved it deliberately.

Mr Taylor said he had lost 10 per cent of his flock when the lambs had fallen into the well.

He said: "I walk the fields usually twice a day. We walked it on Sunday morning and you could tell there was something wrong.

"A ewe came calling out and I looked round the field and thought there weren't enough lambs there. There had been about 150 lambs with 100 ewes.

"I looked over to the well and I could see that the lid was up. I looked down the well and I could see it was full of lambs. I thought to start with there were 10 floating in there, but then some friends came around and a local builder and we made a gaff and pulled them out and saw there were 48. They'd all been lying on top of each other in the water. There may be more still in there.

"One farmer said do I think someone chucked them in, but I don't think they could have.

"It's about 10 per cent of our livestock that's gone – about £5,000 in total. The amazing thing is we might not be insured. We have to prove it was a malicious act. But the police can't find fingerprints on a stone slab and the ground's been so dry there's no trace of anyone being there."

Mr Taylor said the slab weighed about 200kg and he struggled to move it alone.

"It's been moved by human beings," he added. "It's just vile and dreadful. It's been done by a person."