Much loved chickens and ducks, have been stolen overnight from a care home in Frome.

Terrifyingly they were taken just yards from a bed ridden resident's window who heard them being stolen at around midnight (January 12).

Unable to move or alert anyone, she listened as the pets, hatched from eggs at the home and regularly brought into Catherine House Care Home for cuddles, were snatched.

Only one, Thomas, remains, although he is said to be distressed, not just about being alone, (chickens are very sociable birds) but also with feathers missing, apparently being able to escape the fate of his friends.

The loss of the three chickens, called Susie, Gertrude and Ellie and the two ducks, Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee have caused much distress among the residents of the home who saw them as family. They were hand reared and would be inside the home every day to interact with the care home's residents.

Activities co-ordinator Sharon Chard told Frome Nub News : " I came in at 7 am as normal to check the chickens and to feed them and they were gone. But they are not just chickens to us.

"They are pet therapy in our home. Our residents love the chickens for many of them it is their only interaction with outside.

"The chickens and ducks were all reared from eggs, and would come when we called their names. Our residents are so distressed. So is Thomas, who has lost nearly all of his feathers. We are keeping him inside now hoping he will be alright."

The home, which has just over 40 residents, has contacted the police telling Nub News: "All we know is that they came over the wall (the intruders) and they must have had a vehicle. Because there is a trail of feathers leads down the path alongside the home onto Cork Street in Frome where the main entrance is. "

" I am so very upset, " said Sharon. " Anybody who knows who took them or knows anything please please please return them. We are all devastated without them. For the people here who are bed bound that was their life, all the love they had on their lap."