Reward offered after Blythburgh pigs shot with crossbow

The animals were successfully treated by vets and did not abort their litters

An anonymous donor has offered a reward after four pregnant sows were shot with crossbows at a farm in Suffolk.

The animals were found with arrows in them in a Blythburgh field on 30 November. Two others had been stolen and were believed to have been killed.

Suffolk Police said a reward of £500 had been put up and it had then been matched by the farmer, Jimmy Butler.

Mr Butler said the offer "came out of the blue" by a man who was "just so appalled at what happened".

About 2,500 pigs are kept in the open at the farm where the sows were recovering and had not aborted their litters.

"The offer came out-of-the-blue from a man who isn't part of the farming community - he was just so appalled at what happened," he said.

"It was such a generous offer that we decided to match it and we hope it will help lead to prosecutions."

Police said the pigs were believed to have been shot between 11:30 GMT on Friday 29 November and 09:30 GMT the following day not far from the water tower on the B1123.