A MUSIC festival held on farmland in England has fallen foul of the RSPCA and other animal rights groups for harmlessly dyeing its flock of sheep pink.

The Latitude festival, held in Suffolk for the past 14 years, has made the colourful flock a signature sight at the event, but this year the practice has been labelled 'ignorant and cruel' by pressure group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

Festival organisers explained that the water-based dye was not harmful and that 'sheep welfare is the farmers' priority', but a petition was raised with almost 3000 signatures calling for the sheep not to be coloured.

A promotional tweet posted on the opening day of the event showed fuchsia-dyed sheep running across the festival grounds. Social media users quickly criticised the organisers for dyeing the sheep and demanded an explanation.

Latitude defended the stunt, and tweeted that the animals had been: “dip-dyed using natural, water-based dye which they are used to as part of their normal farm life for insecticides and parasites like itch-mite, blow-flies, ticks and lice.

"The sheep welfare is the farmers' priority and we are more than happy with both the dyeing and grassing available at the festival."

A spokesman for the RSPCA confirmed that it would be writing to Latitude's organisers about the sheep, and said: "We want all animals treated with kindness and respect and would discourage people from painting or dying animals for novelty purposes."

The sell-out festival ran from Thursday to Sunday, with an estimated 40,000 people attending to see live music, arts and comedy.