A HORRIFIED family returned from a shopping trip to find their pet rabbit slaughtered in their garden.

Anthony Shaw and Natalie Partridge discovered that sick intruders had pulled the animal to pieces, and left its tail on the back doorstep.

Natalie still cannot look out of the kitchen window and has told her one-year-old son Dylan that the rabbit - named Fudge because of its brown fur - has found a new home.

"I also look after my sister's children and I can't tell them the truth, they would be too upset," said 22-year-old Natalie.

"They used to go out to feed him every day and clean his hutch. I'm heartbroken. I can't understand how anyone could be so cruel. It's just horrible."

Anthony, 23, spent most of the evening cleaning up the mess at the couple's Lever Street home in Heywood after the grim discovery.

"He had to ask a friend to help him because he found it so disgusting. It was making him sick," said Natalie.

"I don't know quite how bad it was because he wouldn't let me look.

"It's really unnerving to know someone has been into your personal space and done something so nasty. It is very unsettling."

It is believed that the intruders climbed over the wall of the back garden then snatched the rabbit from its hutch. Police are investigating.