Children at Little Oaks Nursery in Basford, Stoke-on-Trent have been left heartbroken after vandals tipped washing up liquid into a fountain outside their nursery, killing all 12 fish living in it.
The fountain is owned by the hair salon which the nursery is above and was stocked with a selection of Koi and goldfish.
Salon owner Geoffrey Sidley installed the popular water feature in 2002, and the brightly coloured fish were added two years ago, becoming a much loved feature of the salon's garden with both customers and children from the nursery who regularly fed them.
The attack is believed to have happened overnight between Tuesday and Wednesday this week (February 28-29) and was first noticed by Mr. Sidley when he arrived for work to find the fountain filled with a thick foam that was spreading across the garden.
Despite the efforts of both Mr. Sidley and his gardeners the fish were already dead.
There are no plans to replace the fish as Mr. Sidley is concerned about the potential for the same thing to happen again and the distress this might cause the already upset and confused children.
The police have been informed and anyone with information about the incident is asked to call Staffordshire Police on 101 and quote incident 175 of February 29.
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