Seventy butchered geese found dumped by roads

Mystery surrounds the discovery of 70 butchered geese that were shot and dumped at the roadside in Norfolk.

Thirty-nine carcasses were found in St Pauls Road North in Walton Highway, near Wisbech, on 7 December, and a further 31 in Market Lane, Terrington St Clement, near King's Lynn, on Tuesday.

The birds, which were a mixture of wild greylag and pink-footed geese, all had string tied around their necks and their breasts had been removed.

"It is grim, and it's certainly one of the stranger cases of fly-tipping we've seen," said Sandra Squire, the cabinet member for environment at the Borough Council of King's Lynn and West Norfolk.

"It's been one of the only times the council has rung to update me and I've been completely speechless.

"There are so many offences here I hardly know where to start.

"Most serious, of course, are the animal welfare and food safety issues.

"We don't know whether they were humanely killed, we don't know how they were butchered and whether it was hygienic, so we don't know if they are fit for human consumption," she added.

Squire told BBC Radio Norfolk's Chris Goreham the shooting of wild geese was not illegal - hence it not being a police matter - but the dumping and the numbers involved were not "normal".

"That's definitely organised, and we don't know what they're doing with the meat," she added.

Anyone with information on either incident is asked to contact the council.

Follow Norfolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.