Three gull chicks have been left orphaned after their parents were shot by thugs with airguns.

The chick's parents were found injured along with another seagull, two with shot wounds in their wings and another with a pellet in its chest, at St Mary's Bay on Romney Marsh.

The nest of chicks was found nearby.

All the birds were taken to the RSPCA's Mallydams Wildlife Centre in Hastings, East Sussex, where a vet examined them.

Sadly, the shot gulls were too injured to survive and had to be put down while the babies have been taken into care and will be hand-reared by staff.

"Far too many gulls are being killed as a result of these deliberate and utterly pointless acts of cruelty. It seems these animals are just being used as target practice..." - RSPCA senior scientist Adam Grogan

Nikki Lambert, the wildlife assistant and vet nurse at the centre, said: "The little things are doing well but are too young to fend for themselves, so need to be fed up and cared for by us for a while.

"I only wish whoever is responsible for this pointless callous act could be made to understand the repercussions of what they do. It was not just that they killed an animal – but destroyed a whole gull family."

The trio were the latest in a series of 14 gulls brought to Mallydams after being shot in recent weeks.

Two days after the baby gulls were found in Kent last Wednesday, two adults were brought in from Hastings with fractured wings and pellets in the abdomens and chest.

Another bird was found after being shot in the same road two weeks before on June 28.

Seven gulls were also shot in Camber earlier this month.

RSPCA senior scientist Adam Grogan said: "Far too many gulls are being killed as a result of these deliberate and utterly pointless acts of cruelty. It seems these animals are just being used as target practice.

"Many of the gulls are not killed outright but suffer long lingering deaths from the wounds caused by the airguns they are shot with.

"We urge people to be tolerant of the wildlife around them and remember that it is not only unacceptable, but against the law to purposefully cause any animal or bird to suffer in this way."

Gulls are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and it is illegal to intentionally do anything which causes suffering to wild birds and action can only be taken against them under licence.

Herring gulls in particular are a species of conservation concern in the UK and research has shown gull populations are in decline.

Anyone who finds an injured gull can call the RSPCA's anti-cruelty line on 0300 1234 999.