THERE was a nasty shock for Jason Whitehead of Upper Common, Aylburton, when he came home after a couple of days away...a dead sow floating in his swimming pool.

"I don't know how it got there. I do know it's not so easy to get rid of it and a whole pool full of water has been ruined," he said.

"I have tried to get the police to come and remove it, and the Forest of Dean District Council. Nobody wants to know.

"I have also contacted Defra who said I ought to first find out who the animal belongs to. The trouble is it is hard to get close to the corpse without fainting, it smells so strongly."

However Jason says he thinks it may have originated in a nearby piggery and is going to check it out.

He is uncertain whether the animal drowned in the pool and wonders if it was placed there as a joke.

Fallen animals must by law be taken away by a registered knacker and incinerated, and Jason is worried he might have to foot the bill if nobody claims the sow.