Winchester man promotes petition to ban catapults after swans targeted

Multiple incidents of young people firing at swans in Winchester were reported to the police in recent weeks.

Robert Truscott, 52, of Christchurch Road, witnessed two of the incidents. He first saw a group of kids, aged as young as 10, targeting wildlife as well as pupils rowing along the river by Garnier Road.

The following day, Mr Truscott, was spat at by a different group of young people after he confronted them about shooting at the swans.

The wildlife lover, who’s been feeding the swans since the pandemic, said a duck was found dead after the incidents and another wounded swan.

READ MORE: Volunteer rushes over from Surrey to save Winchester swan

The dead duck (Image: Robert Truscott)

Mr Truscott, who works as a sculptor, said: “It was an awful spate of catapult crime and the group of kids were in broad daylight targeting the waterfowl. Swans, ducks and moorhens - and tried to intimidate me spitting over and threatening as I photographed them.

“It was shocking. These young kids were being really blatant and chucking stones at students too. There were around seven different people who reported incidents to the police in the four days they were here.

"The swans were left quite skittish. I’ve got to know the swans over the years. The dominant male got out the water the other day which shows when they feel more threatened. They were rattled by it.

"I thought they were going to kill a swan. It’s really sad. When we got this poor duck out of the water, you could see the fear in them.

One of the swans flying off (Image: Robert Truscott)

“If we can give police more power to stop and search that will limit incidents like these. If it’s illegal it will be a lot harder for them to carry around.”

Mr Truscott is promoting a petition to make selling and carrying catapults illegal so police can arrest those carrying weapons in areas of wildlife. The petition created by Swan Sanctuary volunteer Danni Rogers has gained more than 8,000 signatures and has until June 20 to reach its goal of 10,000.

At 10,000 signatures, the government will respond to this petition and at 100,000 signatures, the petition will be considered for debate in Parliament. For more information or to sign the petition go to petition.parliament.uk/petitions/653116.

Mr Truscott said he was told by the river warden from Winchester College the group he saw was involved in a similar incident last year.

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A spokesman for Hampshire Police said: “We received a report of an incident in which a man reported being spat at by a group of young people near Domum Road, Winchester, between 4pm and 5pm on Wednesday, February 21.

It was reported that the same group of young people were firing a catapult at swans.

“We received a report of children using catapults at wildlife near the Garnier Road bridge over the River Itchen on Tuesday, February 20

“It was also reported that they fired catapults at students who were rowing along the river. No injuries were reported directly to police. Officers attended and searched the area, however, no offenders were located.

"There are no active lines of enquiry in both cases, and they have been filed pending further any further information becoming available.

"Anyone with information on either incident can contact us via 101 or our website, quoting the relevant crime reference number (44240077110 or 44240075285)."