A gull has died after being shot in the chest at close-range with a crossbow, an animal welfare charity has said.
The Kittiwake gull was found at a roundabout in the Inshes area of Inverness on Thursday.
It was taken into care by an officer from the Scottish SPCA but had to be put to sleep.
Scottish SPCA chief inspector Iain Allan said: "The bolt had entered the gull's chest and it appears to have been targeted at close range.
"This was a sickening incident which would have caused this bird a great deal of pain and suffering.
"We can't be sure where the attack took place as it's likely the gull was still able to fly after being shot."
This is the second incident of this kind to happen this year.
In February a Herring gull was found Mile End Place in the Charleston area of Inverness with a crossbow bolt through its neck.
It also had to be put down due to its injuries.
Under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 it is a criminal offence to intentionally kill or injure any wild bird using a crossbow.
The Scottish SPCA has asked anyone with information about these attacks to call their helpline on 03000 999 999.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article