CALLOUS thugs stabbed a pet duck 13 times in a sickening attack before stealing eight others.

Steven Smith, 28, was horrified when he opened the back door of his home in St John’s Close, Rudheath, to find his pet lying in a pool of blood.

A frantic search of his back yard quickly revealed the rest of the birds had been stolen and their pond had been thrown upside down.

The father-of-four said he first realised something was wrong when he woke up at 7am on Monday and looked out the window.

He said: “I check on them through the window every morning but this time I couldn’t see a single one of them.

“I ran down and opened the back door and there was one of them on the doorstep covered in blood.

“His neck was full of puncture wounds and there was a big chunk missing from beneath the wing.”

The wounded duck was rushed to the vets and is expected to survive.

Steven’s children Connor, nine, Bailey, six, Riley, three and Tia, two, have been rallying to nurse the creature back to health.

Vets believe the duck was attacked with a small, sharp implement such as a screwdriver or a dart.

Steven added: “I think anyone that could do that is sick, I just don’t understand.

“Even the kids don’t understand.

“We got the ducks for the eggs and they have all got really into it.

“They loved those ducks and now it’s all been taken away by some mindless thugs.”