Youths who were caught on camera trying to set fire to a Edinburgh pet shop are being hunted by police.

The youths set alight cardboard and tried to slide the flaming debris under the metal shutter at the A1 Pets store in Great Junction Street, Leith.

More than 50 animals and hundreds of fish were inside the premises at the time of the attack shortly after 9pm on Wednesday.

Shop owner Paul Clarke, 29, said: “I saw a group of 15 to 20 youths outside the shop, aged between 14 and 18, who were fighting.

“They were kicking and punching the shop’s shutters.

“I took a photograph of them with my phone to try and help identify them. Then some of the youths set fire to pieces of cardboard and tried to shove them under the shutters. At that point the safety of the animals was my concern and I went over to them and told them that the police had called me about trouble at my shop.

“If any smoke had gone in the smoke inhalation would have been enough to kill the birds.”