POLICE are investigating two incidents in which swans appear to have been mutilated and killed.
A walker called police when he discovered two dead birds, one with its wings apparently chopped off, in Long Eaton.
The force is linking the incident to a similar one a week before where a dog walker found another mutilated swan.
A police spokesman said: "We were called to the latest find last Wednesday, at the gravel pits in Pasture Lane, Long Eaton, by a walker who called us to say he had found two dead swans, one with its wings apparently chopped off and the bodies mutilated.
"Our investigations at this stage lead us to believe that the birds were not killed by an animal, such as a fox, and we are looking at what motive there may have been for someone to have done this as a deliberate act of cruelty.
"The incident we are linking it to happened close by, at Cranfleet Lock.
"On November 18 a woman who was walking her dog said she saw found a dead swan which looked like it had been mutilated.
"She said the previous day she had seen a group of men acting suspiciously and drinking alcohol in the area.
"We are asking dog walkers, walkers, cyclists and people who use the area to be extra vigilant of any suspicious activity they see in the area at this time."
In February last year six swans were found slaughtered in a Derby park and then butchered for their breast meat.
The decapitated carcasses of the birds were discovered by shocked rangers at Alvaston Park.
Anyone with information should call 101.
