X-rays have revealed that two adult swans and five cygnets, whose bodies were found in plastic bags by a river in Benenden, Kent, had been shot and killed. One image showed a swan’s head, neck and wings ‘riddled with pellets’. An RSPCA spokesperson said that it is not known whether the birds were shot “for fun or killed in the hope of being able to sell their meat”. The RSPCA is calling for better regulation of air weapons after receiving 51 calls concerning air gun attacks on animals in Kent last year and 884 such calls across England and Wales as a whole in 2017. |