00:00The shocking moment when three boys use a catapult to shoot and kill a pet peacock near Maidstone.
00:06Should catapults be banned in Kent? It's a question being asked after growing concerns
00:11for wildlife safety as well as damage to property. I'm here in Faversham where I've spoken to MP
00:16Helen Waitley and later a local councillor. I want to see the powers available to our police
00:23to local authorities to take action on catapults. Now some people say to me
00:28oh why do you want to stop kids having a fun time playing with catapults but there's a big difference
00:32between a catapult which is a toy and the kind of catapults which are being used to injure and kill
00:39animals. They're really different and much more powerful and actually even if a kid thinks it's a
00:44fun thing to fire a catapult at an animal that is not okay it's cruel and it's they should be
00:50stopping
00:51doing it. I get regular reports of animals and actually damage to property due to catapults.
00:58Nearby the Columbine Wildlife Sanctuary has admissions of animals every week who've been injured by
01:04catapults so it's really horrible injuries that animals are getting and it's completely unnecessary
01:10it's often just young people thinking it's amusing to fire a catapult on an animal but clearly that
01:16does real harm injuries and indeed deaths. Helen is calling on Swale and Maidstone Borough councils
01:22to enforce a public spaces protection order which could give the police and councils extra powers to
01:28tackle people carrying catapults in public. So what is the benefit of such an order? I think we know that
01:35some of these attacks have been carried out by younger people. I suppose the main benefit that there could
01:42be is an extra police presence down by the pond. I do think that retailers, particularly online retailers,
01:49do need to be more responsible when it comes to who is buying the catapults in the first place.
01:55Obviously I think most people have found it really quite horrific. The local pond, Stonebridge pond,
02:02is an area that is frequented by families, young people, older people as well who really enjoy seeing
02:08the wildlife down there. So the idea that people are going and attacking these defenseless creatures
02:14and killing them, particularly at this time of year when many of the birds are nesting, is really,
02:19really very unpleasant and very upsetting. But for now, the issue of catapults won't waddle away
02:25anytime soon. Heidi Munn for KMTV in Faversham.
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