Damaged Goods.. Ferrets, Rabbits, Foxes

A soft toy company has launched a new range of cuddly animals which come with their very own, rather sickening.. fluffy twist. Supplied in made-to-measure body-bags and sporting a personalised toe-tag describing the nature of their demise, the furry Roadkill ferrets, rabbits and foxes tend to arrive as damaged goods: flat-packed, tyre-marked and with much of their insides on show to the world.

Twitch is a raccoon made of all the usual teddy-bear materials, synthetic fur and stuffing - it's the stuffing bit that he has a problem with. Twitch lies in a pool of synthetic, cuddleable blood, guts, organs and broken bones.

Twitch is not alone in his agony. The character range includes Pop the Weasel; Splodge the Hedgehog; Grind the Rabbit; Smudge the Squirrel and Puddle the Vole - he is a squashed flat doormat.

Were we meant to laugh? No we certainly weren't. Did we? Yes, in a sort of 'this is tasteless, this is really naughty.. ' way - I'm afraid we did. We market tested the concept, maybe a little incautiously, on my animal-loving, sensitive, 17 year old daughter. She took one look at the Roadkill website and screamed.. "I want one. Get them to send you one for me!" So.. we gave Roadkill a call.