French rugby team mascots wiped out

A MYSTERY killer has decapitated many of the French rugby team’s cockerel mascots in two raids on a farm in Gaillac, Tarn.

The killer struck just days before the RBS Six Nations championship starts, when France take on Scotland on February 7 at Stade de France.

In all, 36 of the Gallinacés cocks were slaughtered in two attacks which started when farmer Mado Delpech, 84, heard screeching coming from her yard and went out to find 11 cockerels had had their heads chopped or torn off.

Then, a week later she heard more noises and discovered only feathers were left – in all she has lost 36 of her prized fowl since the beginning of this month.

Mado, a great rugby fan, has traditionally released a cockerel - named for great French players such as Spanghero and Benazzi - on to the pitch before each game in both the Six Nations and, before that, the Five Nations to great cheers from the crowd.

She told Europe 1 that she did not know if it was man or beast that killed her cockerels but called in gendarmes for help. They found no human traces.

The local hunt club said it was unlikely to be a fox as they usually carried away the bodies of their kills but pointed more towards a marten or a ferret. Now Mado is looking at fitting an electric fence to keep predators out.
Screengrab: France 3