THE RSPCA is calling on parents to warn their children against using airguns for attacks on animals after a week of incidents involving cats in Kent and East Sussex.

Attacks on animals with airguns always increases dramatically during school holidays and over the past week incidents have been reported in Herne Bay, Guestling, Pett, Eastbourne and Lewes.

Unsupervised use of air weapons by anyone younger than 17 is against the law, but every year the charity deals with around 900 airgun attacks on animals in England and Wales.

However, this figure is thought to be just the tip of the iceberg. Many afflicted wild animals will hide away to die painful and lingering deaths, and air pellet entry wounds are difficult to detect by the untrained eye. Other four-legged victims are taken directly for treatment by their owners, without call for RSPCA investigation.

RSPCA Chief Inspector Steve Dockery said: "There is certainty that the number of incidents reported to the RSPCA rises dramatically during school holidays and when the evenings get lighter, providing a strong indication that youngsters are responsible for the majority of senseless attacks on cats, dogs, wild birds, and other defenceless creatures."