Yobs killed a family’s beloved pet peacock by shooting it more than 20 times with slingshots and catapults, before contacting the owners to warn them: “you will be next.”
A family was left in tears after watching River, their peacock, who they rescued from her abusive previous owners, being brutally murdered by the sadistic group in CCTV footage.
River’s owner, Alison Carter, 57, posted footage from a neighbor of the suspects’ CCTV camera on Facebook, showing five boys and a girl shooting at the peacock that was perched in a tree.
One member of the twisted group sent a message to her daughter Macey, 23, threatening her: “Your peacock is 6 feet under and you will be next.”
Alison and her family rescued River (pictured) almost six years ago after they kept him in a small box with no sunlight and found him “featherless and scared.”
Now, his beloved pet has been murdered by a group of hooligans who were caught shooting River with catapults.
“Devastated” owner Alison Carter (pictured), 57, said River was “part of the family”, behaved “like a dog” and would even have “trusted” the group of strangers who killed him .
In the sickening footage three of the boys are seen throwing River more than 20 times from the road before jumping over the fence onto the roof of a private property to continue their attack on the innocent bird.
A petrified and injured River, who Alison says would have “trusted” the group of strangers, is seen falling from the tree, flapping in distress and cowering in the corner.
Gruesomely, the gang continues to target him from the rooftop before two lunge forward, grab River by his wings and hold him up like a trophy, before one rips out his feathers.
They flee like cowards after trying to hide his blood-soaked body in a corner behind a piece of wood.
Alison, 57, said: “I was devastated and still am.” She was part of the family, she played and walked with our dog Ziggy.
“He was like a dog: he followed you everywhere, he went into the kitchen and he trusted them.”
They rescued River almost six years ago after he was kept in a small box with no sunlight and found “featherless and scared.”
Alison said: “We built trust and he became docile, friendly and happy about his freedom.”
They told police and have the names of the suspects after sharing a snapshot of the CCTV footage on Facebook.
Her daughter Macey, to whom one of the group members sent the threat, said: “We don’t feel safe now.”
They have stopped their five other peacocks from roaming freely because they fear the criminals will return.
After Alison posted the sickening images on Facebook, a member of the twisted group messaged her daughter Macey (pictured), 23, threatening: ‘Your peacock is 6ft under and you will be the one. following”.
In the video, River, petrified and injured, is seen falling from the tree, flapping in distress and cowering in fear in a corner.
CCTV footage shows them trying to hide River’s blood-soaked body in a corner behind a piece of wood before the group flees like cowards.
Alison says that the day after River died, someone shot a catapult at one of her dogs, leaving a wound that caused it to bleed.
Macey added: “It would be upsetting if River died on his own terms, but it was the fact that he was brutally murdered that makes it even worse.”
“He would come up to you and feed from your hand, he was so docile and friendly; it was an evil act that didn’t have to happen at all.”
They said the community has come together and is as shocked as they are.
Alkson said: “Everyone knew him, he was a really important character. We hope the police do something – catapults are a deadly weapon.
‘It’s not just a bird, it’s part of the family. These people need to be punished, something needs to be done now.”
It comes after two catapults and 62 ball bearings were confiscated from two boys who were shooting at wildlife in nearby Paddock Wood.
On social media, someone wrote: ‘Don’t blur their faces. These are the same horrible little creatures that come shooting at our cats and dogs right down the road from here.
‘Let them see each other. They called the police while they were doing this and they never turned up.’
Another commented: “Deviants like this start with insects and stuff, then bigger animals and then they attack humans.”