OWNERS of an animal petting service well known to families in Maldon and the Dengie Peninsula have expressed their thanks to the local community for messages of support after a 'devastating' fire at their premises that claimed the lives of 155 animals.

J & C's Party Pets is based at Mayland but the team there regularly take the animals to local venues, particularly Maldon Promenade's petting zoo.

In the early hours of this morning (Monday, 5 May) the barn at Mayland caught light and though fire crews from Burnham-on-Crouch, Maldon and Tillingham arrived soon after the alarm was raised at 1.15am, they were unable to save all the animals.

The losses include petting zoo favourites such as Mac and Benson the macaws, Raz the parrot, Jake the giant tortoise, the meerkats, Hugo the armadillo and Sirius & Severus the skunks, among others.

A statement from J & Cs says: "Overnight we have suffered a devastating fire at our private farm on the Dengie Peninsula, with the help of the fire brigade, friends and family we have managed to save some animals but we have suffered numerous losses.

"We are trying to process what has happened and we do ask for privacy at this time whilst we assess the full extent of the damage and move our unaffected animals to a safe location. We will provide you with an update in due course.

"Sincere thanks for all the well wishes so far. Our office manager will contact any customers so we please ask that you await their call and not call us at this time."

The fire service added: "Firefighters were called to a barn fire during the early hours of this morning.

"On arrival, crews reported that a barn measuring 20 metres by 30 metres was 100 per cent alight. Crews worked to extinguish the fire in sections. Sadly, a number of animals died at the incident.

"An investigation into the cause of the fire found that it started accidentally due to an electrical fault."