Gang of yobs ‘torture’ and kill birds using catapults

'Honestly the first thing I thought was, 'I don't want to be here anymore. I don't want to live here'.'

A group of boys as young as 11 have been spotted torturing and killing birds with catapults.

The teenagers were spotted targeting the helpless birds along the River Medway in Maidstone, Kent.

They were spotted firing at a duck before kicking it and then throwing it against a wall.

Photos from the scene afterwards show a lifeless duck floating in the water, and a dead pigeon was found nearby.

Witness Gemma, 41, saw them abusing the animals as she prepared to go kayaking with her daughter.

She said: ‘To my horror, I saw these boys with catapults.

‘It was quite a distance, but I had my mouth open, thinking, “Oh my God, what am I seeing?”.

‘This poor duck, it was flapping about. They held it by its feet while others fly-kicked it and threw it against the wall.

‘I was so upset – how can you do this to a living creature?’

Gemma said the birds were an ‘easy target’ for the boys as they regularly sit on the walkway.

‘They tortured them in front of everybody,’ the mum-of-two said.

‘It was like they had tunnel vision – they didn’t care who was around.

‘Honestly the first thing I thought was, ‘I don’t want to be here anymore. I don’t want to live here’.’

In April, one family’s pet peacock was targeted and killed by another group of teens in Boughton Monchelsea, Kent.

Gemma immediately reported the incident to the police, but sadly the two birds had already died.

A Kent Police spokesperson said: ‘We were called at 3.35pm on Sunday, June 9, to a report that a group of young people near Fremlin Walk, Maidstone had been seen firing a catapult at a duck in the River Medway.

‘Officers attended and carried out a search of the area but were unable to locate any suspects.’

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