A bin bag containing severed cats' heads was found dumped on a street near to Manchester's famous Curry Mile.

Council bosses in Manchester have launched an urgent investigation and the RSPCA is due to be contacted.

The sickening discovery was made by a council worker.

He found a single black bin bag containing the animal remains close to Walmer Street East and Basil Street, off Wilmslow Road in Rusholme.

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The council said it had been called after complaints over fly-tipping in Rusholme.

A fly-tipping memo sent to to councillors and council officials described the contents of the bag as 'cat heads'.

The waste type was described as 'animal carcasses'.

Chairman at Wythenshawe and Sale East Conservative Association Stephen Woods, who was sent a copy of the memo, said the council should launch an immediate investigation into how this has happened.

"We were all absolutely flabbergasted when we found out about this," he said.

"It's absolutely disgraceful the way they have been treated."

A Manchester city council spokesman confirmed the sickening find on Friday and said an investigation was now underway.

The spokesman said the discovery amounted to 'an extreme example of animal cruelty'.

He said: “A member of our team was called to an address in Rusholme earlier today and discovered a fly-tipped black bin liner containing animal remains.

“This is obviously an incredibly distressing and sickening incident which we are now looking into but this is the first incident of its kind we have come across.

“At this stage we have no way of knowing how these animal parts came to be where they were discovered but we will be contacting the RSPCA as this is clearly an extreme example of animal cruelty.”