MURDER most foul is suspected after one of Buckfastleigh's few surviving Muscovy ducks died from suspected poisoning.

Police and the RSPCA have confirmed they are making inquiries into the suspicious death of a duckling drake whose killer is thought to have sprayed him with a lethal dose of anti-freeze.

One of the town's duck wardens – Pam Barrett – reckons the luckless ducks are on the receiving end of a cold and calculated killing campaign.

She reckons the ducks, which were practically wiped out when 40 of them succumbed to a deadly virus nearly two years ago, are slowly but surely being bumped off by a small minority who resent their presence in the town.