A family from Somerset watched in horror as fox hounds savaged their pet cat in their garden, it has emerged.

Jennifer Kervell and her daughters, seven and three, were in the kitchen preparing lunch when around 30 hounds from the West Somerset Vale Hunt came into the garden and tore apart their four-year-old cat, Holly.

Mrs Kervell, 30, from Combwich, near Bridgwater, said her daughters screamed as they watched Holly being 'savaged'.

She said: 'One minute we were admiring the beautiful hounds then we suddenly realised they were sniffing around our garden for something.

'The hounds went out of view for a moment, then I realised they had hold of something. I could see it was Holly. I told the girls to go into the dining room but they wouldn't listen. They saw everything and were screaming and screaming.'

Mrs Kervell, who describes herself as an animal lover and has two dogs of her own, said the hounds were still 'sniffing around' when she went outside to retrieve the remains of her pet.

'I went outside with a towel to get the body, which had been savaged, and the dogs were still there. The hunt master had obviously lost control of them. I had to gently push them away,' she said.

The incident, which happened on Christmas Eve, 'ruined' the family's Christmas, Mrs Kervell said.

Joint master of the West Somerset Vale Hunt, Robin Cursham, has apologised to the Kervell's and offered to pay for a new pet.

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