An investigation has been launched after a teenager found several dead rabbits dumped in bags in an alleyway.
The grim discovery was made in the alley near Footscray Meadows in Sidcup, south east London, on Monday evening.
The alley isn’t far from St Peter Chanel Catholic Primary School, and the investigating RSPCA officer said she ‘sincerely hopes’ none of the school’s pupils stumbled across the sad scene.
At first three wild rabbits were found, but upon further inspection another four of the creatures were found in a blue plastic bag.
RSPCA Inspector Harriet Daliday said the wild rabbits had been dead for some time, but it wasn’t yet certain how they died, or why and when they were dumped in the alleyway.
‘This must have been an incredibly distressing discovery for the young person who found these dead rabbits and I sincerely hope that no one from the nearby primary school came across them,’ she said.
‘If anyone has any information about how these rabbits came to be placed here, or how they died, please get in touch with us.’
The news comes just days after dozens of animal corpses were dumped outside a community shop in a Hampshire village.
A volunteer arrived at Broughton Community Shop to find more than 50 carcasses strewn outside – and even more disturbing, the bodies of an owl and a kestrel were impaled on the door handles, with blood and guts smeared over the windows.
It happened less than a month after more than 20 dead animals, included a decapitated deer, were dumped outside a nearby primary school.
Inspector Daliday added: ‘We want to see a world where every kind of animal is treated with compassion, respect and kindness, and we hope to teach the next generation that dumping animals like this is not acceptable.’
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