A heartbroken Aberdeen pigeon owner has hit out at the scourge of the city’s foxes after dozens of his prized birds were killed.

Ian Oggston, 54, said he was “totally devastated” when he went to his aviary to feed the birds only to be met by “a horrible sight”.

Initially he believed someone had broken into the shed and massacred his beloved birds, but when police attended to investigate they found a hole which a fox had used to get in.

Now Ian, who lives on Pittodrie Place, has called on residents to stop feeding the bushy-tailed creatures as he believes they are getting too tame.

He said: “They are a menace. So many people leave food out for them, they are always going to be here.

“The next night there were two foxes hanging about and I tried to scare them away with a stick, but one of them came and tried to grab it.

“It really shows the devastation they can cause.

“It was a horrible sight to see. I think just over 60 got killed and I’m down to about 30 now.

“I had to kill quite a few of them because their legs were broken and things like that. They had been going mad in the shed and hitting off the walls.

“That was sickening to have to do that.”

Despite his passion for pigeons, Ian says he will give up keeping the birds after the incident.

He said: “I won’t be keeping pigeons any more because the ones that are left are just so traumatised.

“You can see it in them. They are so scared. One of my friends has said he will take some. It’s heartbreaking to have to do that but they are so traumatised.

“I have been keeping pigeons for a long time. I kept them when I was 16, and then I started up again in 1989. It’s in my blood now.

“But this is it. There won’t be any more because I can’t go through this again. I just can’t protect them.

“Something would still get at them.”