Warning: Includes images some might find upsetting
Residents and animal campaigners were left sickened after a rabbit’s skin was found stretched over an 8ft roadside pole.
The awful spectacle is being investigated by the RSPCA after being found by people using a nearby pedestrian subway in Sunderland.
A 32-year-old woman who saw the grim scene said: ‘It’s awful. As I approached, I couldn’t tell what it was, but I couldn’t believe it when I realised it was a rabbit.
‘Whoever even thought to do this must be sick.
‘There’s no way of telling how it died, but whatever happened to it, it’s undignified way for an animal to end its days.’