Environmental officers have been cleaning up a "significant" oil spill in a wildlife pond.

Saved - Paula Edwards and Rosie Catford, of Thorrington Wildlives rescue centre, clean the two ducks rescued from the Little Bentley oil spill. Steve Brading (35961-e)

They are examining how 1,500 litres of oil got into the pond in Little Bentley, threatening ducks and ornamental fish. Contractors for the Environment Agency were at the Church Road pond yesterday to continue the clean-up operation and stop it spreading to nearby water courses.

Tankers were put in place to scoop the pollutant from the water and oil was also being removed from a 500m stretch of ditch.

A spokesman for the Environment Agency said: "This appears to be an accident but we will be doing our normal investigations to establish exactly what happened."

Domestic heating oil is thought to have been flushed into the pond at the weekend from a tank which split after being hit by a car.

Published Tuesday May 25, 2004

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