King's Forest: Shot and burnt horses' remains found Published duration 15 December 2014

image caption The horses were found on Sunday in the Forestry Commission's King's Forest near Bury St Edmunds

The shot and burnt carcasses of two horses have been found in a forest in Suffolk.

Remains of the mother and foal were discovered on Sunday in the King's Forest, at West Stow near Bury St Edmunds.

They appeared to have been set on fire before being left at the Forestry Commission site, Suffolk Police said.

Officers said it was an offence to dump animals in the countryside and investigations were ongoing.

image caption Police were investigating the discovery alongside the RSPCA

image caption Police said it was illegal to dump carcasses in the countryside and a firearms offence may have been committed

PC Mark Bryant said: "If you do own any pets or horses which have to be put down, there are ways to go about it.

"What you can't do is just go out into the countryside, shoot animals and dump the carcasses.

"There are ways and means of doing this and this is way outside of what I would consider to be acceptable."

Police said if they were shot on site then a firearms offence may also have been committed.

"I suspect that they're either not needed, not required or ill and, to save cost, somebody has decided to take the law into their own hands," said PC Bryant.