Detectives are appealing for information following reports that a group of men have been deliberately catching and torturing foxes in east London – including setting them on fire

Police were called by an animal rescue group on Monday, 27 February in relation to a fox being set on fire in a wooded area near Kestrel Avenue and Linton Gardens, E6.
The group was contacted by a member of public who was awoken at about 1am on Monday, 27 February by the sounds of screaming.
They initially thought it was a human making the distressed sounds, but upon inspection, they saw a group of men pouring what is believed to be lighter fluid over a fox and setting it on fire with a lighter. The fox managed to escape but was badly burnt. The extent of its injuries, or if it survived, remains unknown.

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Enquiries have established that the group regularly go to the area in the early hours of the morning and has reportedly previously captured and tortured foxes – including starting fires to smoke them out of their dens and setting their dogs on them.