ENVIRONMENTAL health chiefs have swooped on a family who have a pet lamb, warning: "You can't just walk a sheep about willy-nilly".

Last week we revealed how four-month-old Lucy the Lamb had been rescued by Darwen animal lover Amanda Snape and kept as a pet.

But environmental health chiefs were not impressed that Amanda, 36, was walking Lucy around town on a lead like a dog. Now, until the necessary paperwork is done, Lucy must be confined to the house.

Once this is completed, Amanda will have to keep a log of all Lucy's movements.

Joanne Scott, environmental health officer for Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council, said: "We were contacted by some concerned members of public who had read about Lucy in the Telegraph.

"I'm sure Lucy's owner has done all this innocently, but you can't just walk sheep about willy-nilly.

"We don't want any spread of infection like foot and mouth disease.

"Lucy will have to be tagged through the ear and the house she's living in will have to be registered with a holding number by DEFRA.

"Wherever she goes will have to be logged so that we will be able to trace her movements in the case of any outbreak of disease."

Amanda said she did not know she would need a licence.

She said: "If I have to get a licence, I'll get one.

"She's a pet at the end of the day."

Since featuring in Thursday's paper, Amanda has been stopped in the street by people wanting to see Lucy. Amanda said: "There must be hundreds of people who have pictures of Lucy on their phone.

"My son came back from the shops and said the shopkeeper had the newspaper cutting up in the window. I'm not going to be able to go anywhere soon with all this fame!"

David Graveston, Gisburn dairy farmer and Lancashire chairman of the National Farmers' Union, said: "Whether it is kept as a pet or not it has to be fully traced because you never know where the animal could end up.

"Whether a lamb should be kept as a pet in a town I don't know.

"There could be a welfare issue as it will not be allowed to go through its normal behaviour."

Amanda, a Jack Russell breeder, had spotted Lucy at a farm run by a pensioner friend of hers in Bolton-by-Bowland.

She was one of twin lambs whose mother died during birth.