The manager of the Grove Ferry pub has hit back at the administrator of a crowd funding scheme set up to cover costs to remove the venue's pigs.

Anthony Pender says they have already agreed to fund their journey to a sanctuary in Scotland so is "shocked" the site has gone up asking for funds for "transportation and castration costs."

The GoFundMe page set up by Elizabeth Teall has already raised £484.

It reads: "Muddy ground like this is NOT good for pigs. Yes, pigs like mud and they need areas of mud for them to wallow and root, but they also need dry areas.

"Mud like this causes problems such as foot rot, as they have no where to escape, their feet are constantly wet. The boys area is appalling.

"The ground is so muddy and churned up with no dry ground/hard standing. Their feet are sore."

Mr Pender took over the pub a decade ago says they have been trying to re-home the 11 pigs for the past nine months but animal sanctuaries are full.

They were approached by someone offering to take them to Scotland and were very clear they would foot the bill.

He said: "It’s quite strange because we have been trying to remove the pigs for months.

"I think it is the same people who we are paying to take them away so there doesn’t need to be a crowd funding campaign.

“They came to the site to visit our site manager Patrick and we said we would happily pay for the carriage up to the sanctuary in Scotland.

"We had Pickle and Lily as it was manageable but then we inherited a further four; soon the five turned up unannounced overnight" - Anthony Pender

"I’m a bit disappointed so I’ll raise it with them. I am really shocked by it. It’s a £1,000 each way.”

Mr Pender says looking after the pigs became unmanageable after people started dumping unwanted animals in the pig pen.

"We had Pickle and Lily as it was manageable but then we inherited a further four; soon the five turned up unannounced overnight.

"We'd just find them in the morning and they were boys and girls."

The pub says it is due to the trend for buying miniature pigs.

"More more often than not they (pigs) are sold normal pigs so rather than growing to 15kg they are now 70 kilos."

Mr Pender says he realised the conditions are not ideal for the animals due to the seasonal flooding that takes place in the winter making the area muddy.

He said: "Five years ago the pub started to flood regularly - the water level has risen so it makes it very muddy for the pigs.

"We have had complaints but the RSPCA are more than happy with their condition and understand that we are looking to re-home them.

"If there are any sores on the animals we would phone the vet straight away - we have thousands of customers through our doors each year so the last thing we want is sick animals.

"We would have had them culled but we did not want that to happen.

"We are paying about £600 a month on feed and hay so paying for them to be removed makes sense for us financially too. Everybody is happy with that solution."