A YOUNG BOY is offering his savings as a reward for anyone who can help find his pet hen, which was stolen from his garden.
Tom Cheater, nine, was devastated to discover his beloved bird, Dingo, had been taken from the family home in Priestlands Close, Netley Marsh.
Now in a bid to get Dingo back, Tom has put his savings of £39.42 as a reward for the three-year-old hen’s return.
Dingo the hen
Mum Nicola Cheater, said: “Tom is in the garden most days even if he is playing football he likes to be near the hens, and Dingo is his. He is really upset about this. He thinks she is dead and is in heaven.
“Dingo is the friendliest of our hens, she doesn’t mind strangers and she lets people pick her up and she loves affection. People do not think of chickens like that, but she’s very similar to a cat.
“I am gobsmacked that they have come in and that someone has done this. I know that people steal pets but I feel sick that somebody has come in to our garden and taken our chicken.”
Dingo was one of three hens who live in the Cheater’s garden and Nicola fears that she could die if she is put with a different group of chickens.
She added: “It is really cruel, you can’t integrate a chicken into a flock, because other chickens will peck it to death.”
A food hopper was also taken by whoever took the bird.
Dingo is a distinctive white hen with brown freckles. Hampshire police confirmed they received a report of a stolen chicken and are asking witnesses to come forward.
A spokesman said that if anyone has seen Dingo or saw anything suspicious on September 7, they can contact Hampshire police on 101, quoting the crime reference number 44140326971.
