A walker has been left horrified after stumbling upon a heap of dead animals and birds yards away from a public footpath near Baldock.

The man, who wishes to remain anonymous, says he made the discovery while walking past privately-owned land in Spital Wood – situated between Baldock and Wallington – on Friday afternoon.

He said: “When I stumbled on this horror, I counted deer, rabbits, hares, squirrels, foxes, stoats, weasels, crows, magpies and jays.

“Who knows what’s beneath the top layers. Could there be badgers, red kites or buzzards? Who knows? Clearly whoever trapped, snared, poisoned, and shot these wild creatures knows no compassion.

“What could be sacred to this monster? Well I’ll tell you. Pheasants and partridges. This mess is sitting next to pheasant pens, and is approached through a minefield of wire snares.

“And fen traps that snap the backs of any small four-legged animal that wander onto them.

“Who is responsible? We’ll try and name and shame the lowlife gamekeeper, but it’s the landowners and in the bigger picture the shooting industry that employs men to eliminate anything that might be perceived as a threat to their precious birds, that will be shot for recreation in the winter.

“Is that obscene, or am I going mad? Another, perhaps the only, reason why people hunt foxes with dogs?”