A LAKESIDE mum has warned pet owners to protect their animals after she found her family's rabbit dead in the garden with horrific head wounds.

On Monday just after 6am, Trisha Clark, of Prospect Road, discovered pet Zebedee's hutch had been smashed apart and after walking down the garden, found the body of the three-year-old animal.

She took the body to a Batchley veterinary surgery where it was confirmed Zebedee had been killed by being smashed over the head with a stick or piece of wood and not as a result of another animal attacking it.

After reporting it to the police, neighbours told Ms Clark they had found their guinea pig dead at the bottom of their garden in similar circumstances, also on Monday morning.

Ms Clark said: "We were horrified when we saw what someone had done to Zebedee.

"From the position his body was in, Zebedee had been trying to escape when he was hit over the head.

"It's sickening. Pet owners need to be aware this is happening and do everything possible to keep animals secure at night."