The carcass of a swan owned by the Queen has been found on a river bank near Windsor Castle after apparently being cooked on a disposable barbeque.
It was butchered and stripped of its flesh before being dumped close to the water on Baths Island in Berkshire.
Police have launched an investigation into the incident as animal charity Swan Lifeline condemned the attack on the royal bird as ‘sickening’.
Wendy Hermon from the charity was called to the river bank on Sunday afternoon after a council warden discovered the swan’s remains.
‘It was just a carcass, it was all burnt. We could see that whoever did this had taken the breast out,’ she said.
‘It was done neatly, presumably to get at the meat. They had skinned it as well and possibly barbecued it there, on a disposable barbecue.
‘We have no idea how it was killed, it could have been shot or beaten.’
She added: ‘I felt sick when I saw it. How can someone do that and leave it where they did? I would have been devastated if I had been walking along there with my little boy and he had seen that.
‘It just sickens me that there are people out there that do things like that.’
Killing or injuring a swan used to be classed as treason under a law dating back to the 12th century and the birds now have statutory protection under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
A Thames Valley Police spokesman said: ‘Thames Valley Police is investigating a theft following a report at 12.38pm on August 18 by a Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Council warden who had found a swan. The swan had been killed and burnt.’
It was butchered and stripped of its flesh before being dumped close to the water on Baths Island in Berkshire.
Police have launched an investigation into the incident as animal charity Swan Lifeline condemned the attack on the royal bird as ‘sickening’.
Wendy Hermon from the charity was called to the river bank on Sunday afternoon after a council warden discovered the swan’s remains.
‘It was just a carcass, it was all burnt. We could see that whoever did this had taken the breast out,’ she said.
‘It was done neatly, presumably to get at the meat. They had skinned it as well and possibly barbecued it there, on a disposable barbecue.
‘We have no idea how it was killed, it could have been shot or beaten.’
She added: ‘I felt sick when I saw it. How can someone do that and leave it where they did? I would have been devastated if I had been walking along there with my little boy and he had seen that.
‘It just sickens me that there are people out there that do things like that.’
Killing or injuring a swan used to be classed as treason under a law dating back to the 12th century and the birds now have statutory protection under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
A Thames Valley Police spokesman said: ‘Thames Valley Police is investigating a theft following a report at 12.38pm on August 18 by a Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Council warden who had found a swan. The swan had been killed and burnt.’
Source : Metro
Why should it be burnt and was the person aiming at meat?
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