FARM staff were left ‘in tears’ after three young goats died over the Easter weekend, possibly having been fed chocolate eggs by visitors, the Advertiser can reveal.

The orphaned kids, Boris, Sid and Buzz, died over the ‘Easter Eggstravaganza’ weekend at Finkley Down Farm after staff noticed they looked unwell.

General manager Charlie Waters said: “They were not looking 100 per cent so we took them to a quarantine area to have a look at them.”

A vet was called out to have a look at the beloved animals, but unfortunately all three died.

Mr Waters told how the staff thought at first it may have been due to overfeeding after Boris and Sid died on Saturday afternoon.

Once a postmortem was carried out, however, the vet ruled out that they died due to overfeeding.

Buzz had been ill for a while and was being treated for an infection before dying at the vets on Sunday evening.

Finkley Down Farm got the Anglo-Nubian goats from a farm in the New Forest about a year ago.

The staff lovingly bottle-fed the young goats and even taught them to shake hands.

Mr Waters added: “The girls were in tears.

“They had had them from babies.”

The vets found no conclusive evidence that the three kids died from being fed too much.

Mr Waters said: “We suspect it was a change in diet rather than overfeeding.”

It may have been from something that was not normal to their diet, which may have been introduced by the public over the bank holiday weekend.

According to Mr Waters, he and the staff have found members of the public trying to feed the farm animals food that has not been provided by the farm.

He said it was possible that the goats may have been given chocolate which are not good for the animals.

The farm provides goat feed to give to the animals and has several signs asking people not to feed them outside food.

Caroline Snook, livestock manager, said: “We are all upset about the loss of our babies.”