A THIEF has stolen a family of three bears from a Herefordshire wood.

The mystery began a month ago when a pine carving of a 2ft baby bear disappeared from the Childer Wood Heavy Horse Centre, near Canon Frome.

Days later, the 3ft tall mother vanished and, last week, the 5ft father bear was stolen, despite being chained and padlocked to a large tree.

The similarity to the three bears fairytale has done little to lift the spirits of horse-logger and woodland manager Doug Joiner, who is the victim of the unusual thefts.

"With the price of timber falling, we thought we would try and be a bit more creative and diversify a bit by producing these chainsaw carved sculptures," said Mr Joiner.

"We make mushrooms, elephants and, of course, bears, which seem to be proving a bit too popular."

And although the thefts may have an apparent link to the children's tale, Mr Joiner believes far more mature members of society are responsible.

"After the first two thefts, we chained the father bear up, but they came armed with a bolt cutter in the wee hours and stole him," explained Mr Joiner.

"These sculptures are very heavy and you would need proper transport to lift and steal them.

"If anyone could carry the bear away in the middle of the night, I would not want to tackle them!"

Anyone who has seen or heard anything of the bear family is asked to call Matthew Clayton at Hereford Police's crime desk on 08457 444 888.