AN Amesbury woman has condemned a group of "drunken thugs" who she witnessed trampling a hedgehog to death.

Clair Allison was woken about 2am by four men and a woman, as they walked back from Amesbury town centre along London Road.

As she looked out of her window, she was horrified to see them stumble across a hedgehog and start kicking it between them.

"They set about this creature and decided to play football with it," said Mrs Allison.

"Then they proceeded to stamp on it and tried to post it in a letterbox."

Unfortunately, by the time Mrs Allison and her son, Max (21), could get dressed and out of their house, the hedgehog was dead.

"The thugs had just carried on up the road, yelling at each other, so I got in my car and went after them," said Mrs Allison.

"There was bit of a confrontation and one of them was about to threaten me with a iron bar, but I had called the police and just at the moment the cavalry arrived."

She added: "It was absolutely dreadful what they did to that hedgehog, but what made it worse was that they turned out to be a group of squaddies and it was the morning of June 6.

"It's disgusting to think today's modern army is no reflection on the army that went on the beaches that same day 60 years ago."

A spokesman for Wiltshire police confirmed the incident was reported and that an investigation was under way.

He added: "Three men from the local area have been interviewed and we are due to interview two further people.

"At the conclusion of the investigation, the case will be presented to the Crown Prosecution Service for their consideration."

The RSPCA is also investigating the matter.Jo Barr, RSPCA regional press officer for the south and southwest, said: "At this stage, the police are leading the investigation, as they were alerted first, but the local RSPCA inspector is doing everything she can to help.

"We are very grateful to the witness who has come forward to give evidence because, as a charity, with limited resources and staff, we rely on the public to be our eyes and ears and report incidents of animal cruelty to us."