ENVIRONMENT chiefs have told a man who rescued a crayfish from a town centre he must kill the creature because it is an alien invader.

Vic Garland saw the crayfish on the pavement outside WH Smith and Pack's Jewellers on Fore Street, Tiverton.

He picked it up and took it to his Harrowby Close home, where he kept the two-inch long crayfish, which he nicknamed Sid Vicious, in a fish tank.

But the creature he rescued was a red-clawed American signal crayfish, which has endangered the native white-clawed species by out-competing them for food and habitat.

After being told by a friend that it was illegal to keep the crayfish, Mr Garland rang the Environment Agency. He said he was advised to kill it or face a hefty fine if he didn't.

"The person I spoke to told me to put it on the floor and stamp on it, alternatively I could put it in the freezer, let it go into hibernation and then dispatch it in the same way," he said.

Sewerage work has caused the town leat to dry up in recent weeks, leading to sightings of crayfish in the town centre.