A HANDFUL of gerbils that were dumped on a Petersfield beauty spot have been rescued by a council officer.

Dave Griffiths was called to The Heath last Thursday amid reports of a woman releasing a cage of rats into the open.

The environmental protection officer took two hours to recapture 10 of the rodents, which turned out to be gerbils.

He wrote on social media network facebook that the creatures had been freed by "an idiot" who threw the cage in a nearby bin.

He said: "I don't know how many more were loose but I think I caught the majority because they stayed in the area where they had been released. They were obviously used to being picked up and didn't nip at all.

"They are sweet little things and I can't believe someone would be so cruel, they certainly wouldn't have survived on their own."

For full story, see this week's Petersfield Herald.