AN ADVERTISEMENT for recruiting Enfield Council pest controllers has been described as 'sick' by local Tories.

The offending advert for the £14,000-a-year job, is a pun on a popular hymn which reads: 'All things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small. All things wise and wonderful, you get to kill'em all.'

Conservative councillor Pamela Adams condemned the controversial commercial which has appeared recently in the local press.

She said: 'This advert will be grossly offensive to thousands of animal lovers, and church goers throughout Enfield.

'Not only does it appear to endorse cruelty to animals, it does so by twisting an old and well-loved hymn.

'It is a sick advert which reflects badly on Enfield Council as a whole.

'Whoever cleared it for publication should be disciplined in the strongest possible terms, so that this kind of offensive nonsense can never occur again.'

The advertisement was commissioned by the council's personnel department and was devised by an unnamed advertising agency.

A council spokesman said that previous ads were 'more conventional' than the 'All things bright and beautiful' composition.

The spokesman added: 'It was dreamed up by an advertising agency to fill a difficult vacancy.

'We thought it was amusing and attention-getting, it was not meant to offend. We apologise.

'We won't be placing it again. Now that it has upset people it has been withdrawn.'