Disturbing trend: UK children form catapult torture circles exposed on WhatsApp

Children in the United Kingdom are doing something really bad, which has been exposed through WhatsApp groups, Sky News reported. 

They are using slingshots to hurt and kill animals. And, they are not just doing it, they're filming it too.

Sky News has exposed the upsetting torture trend in the children. The media outlet has found almost 500 young members of WhatsApp groups where they share photos and videos of animals hurt or killed with slingshots. Over 350 such pictures and videos were shared in these groups.

These kids, some of them are really young, are sharing videos and pictures on WhatsApp. They show animals getting hurt by slingshots. Sometimes the animals are still alive, suffering slowly. Other times, the animals are already dead, and the kids are kicking them around or holding them up like trophies.

The RSPCA, which helps animals, says this is really disturbing and it is happening more and more.

The animals these kids hurt include pigs, deer, pigeons, foxes, squirrels, and more. One place that helps hurt swans has seen lots of birds with injuries from slingshots. It is really sad. One volunteer said the injuries are so bad, like broken bones and eyes exploding.

The kids do not care about the animals. They just think hurting them is fun. One kid even shot a swan while someone was trying to help another hurt swan! Then he left a dead bird by the helper's car, like a trophy.

X-ray images of birds reveal ball bearings stuck in them and broken bones from slingshot hits. Volunteer Danni Rogers describes the injuries as mainly to the birds' heads and necks, causing severe harm. Rogers adds that the injuries are life-changing, causing fractures, exploding eyes, and bursting windpipes.

"I get emotional about seeing animals in distress," he told Sky News. "(They're) being targeted for no other reason than just pure evil fun."

These kids are young, some are even in primary school. They're not supposed to hurt animals. But they're doing it anyway, and it's not okay.

The police know about this and so do some people in the government. They want to change the rules so it is illegal to hurt animals like this. Right now, it is not against the law to have a slingshot, but it is against the law to hurt animals on purpose.

People are worried. They're trying to stop kids from hurting animals like this. But the kids need to understand too. Hurting animals is never okay.