'People were shocked' Villagers puzzled after hares dumped at shop

It was a typically tranquil day at the community shop in the picture-postcard village of Broughton on the banks of the Wallop Brook.

- Steven Morris

Delicious breads and tempting cakes were being delivered while a stream of customers, including villagers and groups of walkers and cyclists who know it as an ideal stoppingoff point, kept the volunteers busy.

The scene that had greeted the shop workers when they arrived a few days ago could hardly have been more different: the battered remains of about 50 hares and two birds of prey had been dumped outside in the early hours. Blood was smeared on the windows and the bodies of a kestrel and barn owl jammed in the door handles.

"It's incredible that someone would do that, shocking," said Caroline Hall, a landscape painter and shop customer. "It's such a privilege to see hares and birds of prey in the countryside around here. It was so cruel."

Hampshire police are exploring the theory the animals were killed and dumped by hare coursers, who set dogs on the mammals and livestream the chase for gamblers to bet on across the world.