POLICE are urging parents to hand over their children's air rifles after a third cat was shot dead in two months.

Julie Hughes, from Trimdon Village, County Durham, found her cat, Pepper, dying under a hedge. It had been shot at point blank range in a field outside her home in Swainby Road.

She was so distraught that her friends have collected a £100 reward for anyone who can provide evidence that will lead to a prosecution.

Acting Inspector Eddie Bell, of Consett police, has appealed to parents whose teen-agers have air guns to surrender them at their local police station, where they will be destroyed.

He said: "If you have an air weapon in the house belonging to a young person, do they legitimately need it? What are they doing with it? If you have a doubt, then get rid of it, so they don't get into bother. It could save your child getting a firearms offence.

"The bottom line is why would you want to have an air weapon? You can't shoot on land without permission."

Teenagers under the age of 17 cannot legally shoot anywhere other than on their own land and people of any age need landowners' permission to shoot elsewhere, or they can be charged with trespassing with an air weapon.

Animals are becoming increasingly common targets for teenagers with air weapons.

Last week, a five-year-old girl found her dying cat, which had been shot at point blank range, and last month a cat was killed in the Haugh-ton area of Darlington.

A cat in Billingham recently lost its eye after being hit with an air rifle pellet and another had to have a pellet removed millimetres from its spine after being shot in Barnes Close, Darlington.

RSPCA Inspector Garry Palmer said: "This is causing unnecessary suffering and the maximum penalty for that is a six-month prison sentence and a £5,000 fine."

Read more about the campaign here.