HEARTBROKEN Florence Bliss has vowed to sell her fishing lake, after thousands of fish died in agony after a suspected poison attack. Around £50,000 worth of sturgeon, carp and mirror carp died in horrific circumstances, less than an hour after a mystery

HEARTBROKEN Florence Bliss has vowed to sell her fishing lake, after thousands of fish died in agony after a suspected poison attack.

Around £50,000 worth of sturgeon, carp and mirror carp died in horrific circumstances, less than an hour after a mystery car visited Kingfisher Lakes AT Wisbech St Mary early one morning.

"A silver car drove straight down to the bottom car park, I didn't see any fishing gear in the car," said Florence, a former teacher at Wisbech Grammar School.

"Within an hour of the car coming in, I had hundreds of fish dead and dying, short of oxygen. They must have thrown in the poison in and left, it is absolutely soul destroying.

"The aerators were going, the water was not de-oxygenated, I knew straight away they had been poisoned. Some died immediately, others took days to die, it is likely that a strong chemical was added to the water."

Hundreds of fish died, gasping for air, bleeding from the gills, and suffering from "exploding blisters."

Desperate Florence put a ton of salt into the four-acre lake, in an attempt to purify the water and help heal the fish, following the suspected poisoning around 7.10am on Friday August 22

These fish died in agony, that is what hurts," said Florence, "we have been pulling fish out of the water every day since."

Florence, who has closed her business until further notice, has used wheelbarrows and a JCB ground hog to remove dead fish from the lake, which was popular with local anglers, and disabled fishermen.

"I can re-stock, but I have lost heart," she said. "I will re-stock just to sell, but the Environment Agency has advised me to wait until the water cools down. Some people have offered me their fish, that made me cry."

Florence bought the 31-acre Kingfisher Lakes in June 2006. She had plans to turn the site into a holiday complex, being granted permission to establish 10 log cabins on site for disabled fishermen.

She had designed the fishing facilities to accommodate the disabled. "This has been the busiest lake in the area," said Florence, who is also in the middle of building a new shop and café on the site, and has permission to dig out a second lake.

"I needed £300,000 for the development, and the bank was ready to lend me the money," she added.

"This might bankrupt me," she said. "I had recently bought some cameras, but it was my mistake, I had not put them up."

*Police are appealing for any witnesses who might have seen anything suspicious, or saw the silver car. Contact:0845 4564564.