ANIMAL lovers have gathered more than 6,000 signatures on a petition about Bradford Council's traveller site at Esholt.

The group is calling on the authorities to remove all animals from the site and for the Council, which owns it, to ban all tenants from keeping animals there.

The campaigners last week staged a demonstration outside City Hall, where councillors were gathering for the first full Council meeting of 2016.

One of the organisers, Beverley Wilson, of Rawdon, said: "We thought it went really well. Quite a few of the councillors came along."

Last week, Bradford Council confirmed it was investigating allegations of unlicensed dog breeding at the site.

And the RSPCA said it had visited the site to check on dogs and horses there, but said it did "not have concerns about these animals at the present time".

Yesterday, an RSPCA spokesman said the situation remained the same.

A spokesman for Bradford Council said: "The investigation into allegations of illegal dog breeding at the Esholt site is continuing.

"The petition calling for a ban on animals being kept at the site has not yet been formally submitted to the council.

"The next meeting of full Council at which petitions can be received is March 22."