DISTRESSING CONTENT WARNING: An awful CCTV clip shared on social media shows the cruelty as the boys repeatedly kick the defenceless animal.
Cctv Captures Yobs Kicking Hedgehog In Owton Manor
Sickening CCTV footage has caught hideous cruelty as yobs “play football” with a hedgehog.
The awful clip that had been uploaded to social media captured a gang of yobs repeatedly kicking the defenceless animal in Hartlepool.
The video was captured at 9.52pm on Monday, July 22, and involves three males who have all now been interviewed by police.
The footage sparked fury on social media with one resident saying: “What a lovely bunch of young people we have, playing football with an innocent hedgehog.”
At the time of reporting the incident, TeessideLive said the video had been viewed 367 times – but it seems as though it has now been removed from Facebook.
READ MORE: Hedgehog had to be deflated after swelling to the size of a football
Sickening footage captured to hideous cruelty on camera
Sickening footage captured to hideous cruelty on camera (Image: Teesside Live)
One resident said in a local Facebook group: “Can the person who posted the video of the hedgehog being used as a football please message me as I can’t locate the post anymore.
“The Police are opening an investigation but need the video uploading to a form they’ve emailed me, I did put the link on my original report but it needs uploading properly on this form,” reports The Mirror.
According to the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 it is illegal to kill or capture hedgehogs unless they are suffering or need to be rehabilitated and then released back into the wild.
Following the death of a hedgehog officers have now interviewed two boys voluntarily.
A Cleveland Police spokesperson said: “On Monday 29th July, two twelve-year-old boys were interviewed voluntarily in relation to causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal.