A ROMSEY woman claims her pond of fish worth £8,000 have been gobbled up by a "family of otters".

Sally Grahamsley, who lives in Jermyns Lane, was "devastated" after she discovered 15 of her fish had been killed at around 4pm.

Now the 76-year-old is warning residents to be on the lookout for the otters after finding a number of decapitated Koi scattered by her garden pond.

Sally said: "My husband and I went over to our Koi pond to let some of the water out, as it was so high following all the rain when we realised something had got in the pond.

"It was absolute carnage and at first I thought it was a heron or a cat, but after searching on the Internet I soon realised it was an otter.

"One of the White Koi that was killed was quite valuable and that is the one that really upset me, because we had him for 25 years.

"Now we only have one Koi left and we managed to revive two Ghost Carp."

Sally's brother helped save the remaining fish after he brought out a plastic tub to the pond, where they dipped the fish in and out of it to "get water into their gills", according to Sally.

Sally and her husband's, Douglas, house backs onto The Straight Mile where there are "two ponds", which she believes is where the otters could have emerged from.

She added: "We were so upset this happened and I would have taken pictures of the scene, but it was just horrible.

"We saw seven out of the 15 dead fish on the other side of the pond, along with a spine removed from one of the fish. I think the remaining eight fish were taken away and eaten.

"We were given two of the Ghost Carp and to get fish like that you have to source them locally.

"We will not be replacing the fish that were lost and, although they are insured with Aviva, I think it is unlikely we will be reimbursed for them."

The Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust has been contacted for comment.

The fish were mauled on Sunday, October 13.

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