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A dog walker has spoken of the horror of witnessing three youths stamp a new born deer to death in a park in Dorset.

Keith Arthurs was walking his dog in Upton Country Park, near Poole, when he saw three teenage boys wearing hoods attack the fawn on Wednesday night.

He did not intervene for fear of being injured. The RSPCA collected the body and took it to Lynwood Vets in Wareham.

Police are appealing for the public's help in finding the boys. Mr Arthurs said: "I was disgusted and horrified."

He added: "One of them hit the fawn across his head.

"Then they dropped it on the floor and they all took turns stamping on it.

"It [went] on for a few minutes."

The area is popular with walkers and cyclists.

Pc John Snellin, wildlife officer for Dorset Police, said: "Twenty-three years I have been in the force and I don't think, in all honesty, I have seen anything quite as barbaric and horrendous as this.

"It worries me what these youngsters might go on to do."