A MAN who reared six ducks that were found shot dead in Darwen has called on the culprit to hand himself in.

Police were called to Ashton Park on Friday after a man carrying an air pistol was spotted firing at birds at around 9.45am.

Officers and the RSPCA attended the scene and discovered six ducks, and a goose, had been killed.

David Mellelieu, 26, said he set the ducks free in the park three months ago.

He said: “I am very upset because I kept them for quite a while. I didn’t realise all this had happened until I read the Telegraph.

“You just don’t expect to go down there and see ducks dead all over the place.

“For somebody to do that, it’s just sick and twisted. If you are doing this to animals, you could do this to a human being. It’s not just that ducks are being killed. It’s a man on the loose in a park with an air gun.

“I want the person who did this to come forward and put people’s minds at rest.”

Mr Mellelieu, who owns a sandwich bar in Burnley, said he kept eight ducks and other livestock when he lived in Pendleton.

He said: “We moved to Bolt-on and didn’t have enough room to keep the ducks, so I released them in the park because I thought it would be a nice thing to do.

“We spoke to the RSPCA and they said it was fine.My mum lives in Hilton Road facing the park and I went down two, or three, times a week to check on them.

“All the residents knew that the ducks belonged to me and they fed them, so they were well looked after down there.

“Three of them were very rare ducks, Indian Runners, and the rest were black Aylesbury ducks. There are only two remaining now and some are still there, dead in the water.”

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call police on 101, or Crimestoppers, anon-m-ously, on 0800 555111.