Anger as geese are shot

Two geese have been shot in the latest in a spate of attacks on animals in Shropshire.

One bird was killed in the attack at the Macdonald Hill Valley Hotel, Golf and Spa in Whitchurch and another was injured.

The geese were parents to a family of eight three-week-old goslings - five of which have disappeared, feared dead, since the attack.

Albert Minshall, founder of the golf course, said the father Canada goose had been killed in the attack and the mother goose had been injured.

He said the mother goose was now unable to defend her young and he thought the five missing goslings had been taken by foxes.

One of Mr Minshall’s cats was also shot on Monday but is recovering.

“It just isn’t on,” he said. “The world’s gone mad. We have done everything we can to try to defend them.”

Mr Minshall said the RSPCA had been informed of the attack.

The attack follows the death of two Shetland ponies in a Whitchurch field.

Two teenagers have appeared in court accused of shooting the ponies in a paddock off Edgeley Road on Sunday.

And in another incident, a cat had an eye removed by vets after being blasted by a shotgun at close range as it prowled near its home in Shifnal on Saturday.

Ollie, a three-year-old ginger cat, had between 25 and 30 fragments of shot embedded beneath his skin.