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Dr Mark Hartl, associate professor of marine biology at Herriot Watt University, said sodium cyanide is very soluble in water and can be toxic because it interferes with the respiration of animals, but at this point it is not clear if any has entered the water.

Sculptor Alan Beattie Herriot, who created the statues of Wojtek the Bear in Edinburgh's Princes Street Gardens, has been lined up to take on the commission.

Sculptor Alan Beattie Herriot, who also created the statue of footballer Denis Law in Aberdeen, said he was excited about this latest commission.

"Seeing All Creatures Great and Small as a child encouraged me to be a vet and I saw myself as a James Herriot," he said.

With pride but also anguish he recalls how, as a young man trained as a veterinarian, he quickly established himself in the chaotic and sometimes violent company of the circus: a hunky James Herriot caring for the medical needs of the animals.