The children were spotted by a concerned mother (Picture: SWNS)
A gang of young boys were seen ‘torturing’ and killing birds with catapults.
Onlookers watched in disgust as the youths took aim at helpless birds on the River Medway, in Maidstone, Kent.
The group of teenagers, thought to be between the ages of 11 and 15, were seen by concerned locals firing off at a duck before kicking it and throwing it against a wall.
Photos taken after the group left show a lifeless duck floating in the water, and a dead pigeon also targeted was found nearby.
Gemma, a local woman, was preparing to go kayaking with her daughter and partner before she was the youths abusing the animals.
‘To my horror, I saw these boys with catapults’, the 41-year-old said.
‘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?’
The lifeless duck was found floating in the river (Credits: SWNS)
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 dead pigeon allegedly killed by the youngsters was also photographed nearby (Credits: SWNS)
A Kent Police spokesperson said of the incident: ‘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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