RSPCA officers are investigating an act of 'utterly pointless cruelty' after two ducks and a pigeon were shot by a crossbow.
All three birds had to be put down to save them from further suffering after they were found with five-inch bolts lodged in them.
The ducks were found in a canal at Brookhouse Lane, in Congleton.
One had a bolt through its head while the other had a bolt through its wing.
A week before, a pigeon had been found with a similar bolt through its wing in the back garden of a house in Crewe.
The alarm was raised when a concerned member of the public saw the two ducks swimming in the canal.
RSPCA Inspector Emma Timmis, below, said: "I have never seen bolts like these before.
"We think the ducks might have been swimming around for a few days with these things in them, unable to fly and possibly eat.
"This is just a case of utterly pointless cruelty."
The pigeon was taken to RSPCA's Stapeley Grange Wildlife Centre in Nantwich where staff discovered severe open fractures caused by the crossbow.
Investigators are now looking into whether or not the shootings are linked.
And they are urging anyone who has information on the shootings to get in touch, in the hope of bringing those responsible to justice.
Stapeley Grange manager Lee Stewart said: "It could well be that these incidents are linked. Admission like these are rare and have occurred within the space of a few days in fairly close proximity.
"In each case there was nothing we could do to save the birds and they could have been suffering for quite some time.
"It was a horrible way to die and what possesses someone to get a crossbow like this and use it to shoot at a wild creature is beyond me."
Under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 it is an offence to cause injury or suffering to wild birds. Anyone with any information about the incidents, which were discovered on March 23, should contact the RSPCA on 0300 1234 999.
http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/Birds-die-shot-crossbow/story-15725554-detail/story.html
http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/Birds-die-shot-crossbow/story-15725554-detail/story.html
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