Four dogs have died after eating a mysterious chemical dumped on their favourite place to go walkies.

The unknown poison has been discovered and removed but environmental health officers fear it could have been there for as long as a month.

Lewes District Council said so far the death of four dogs had been linked to the toxic substance left next to the clifftop path in Peacehaven.

One victim was three-year-old English mastiff Bramble.

His owner, Clive Lauren, of Sunview Avenue, Peacehaven, said she had started licking at the ground near where the poison had been dumped while out for a walk on August 13.

Three days later Bramble's liver failed and she had to be put down.

Mr Lauren, 33, said: "My dog has been poisoned and died.

“There wasn't a huge amount of fly-tipping you could see, but something that had been poured on the ground.

“Unfortunately one of my three dogs went and ate a bit of something that was there.

“She was sick that night, but it wasn't until the next day a neighbour told me another dog had died.

“The first one was a Jack Russell, then there was Bramble and there was a black Labrador as well that have all died.

"Hundreds of dogs are walked down there and I would hate to think it could happen to another one.

“But if it can kill a big dog, what would happen if a child fell over in it then put their hands near their mouth?”

A spokesman for Lewes District Council said: “Our environmental health officers were informed last Thursday of some waste material between Sunview Avenue and Mayfield Avenue and that dogs had died from eating this substance.

“We are investigating what this material was and how it came to be there.”

Animal welfare officers have been patrolling the area and warning dog walkers and letters have been sent to the homes of residents in the immediate area.

An RSPCA spokeswoman said: “We are very concerned dogs are being poisoned.”

The RSPCA appealed for anyone with any information on who was behind the fly tipping to call 0300 1234999.