BORED teenagers causing outrage in a community through acts of random cruelty is nothing new.

If you were to visit any town, village or city in this - or any other - country, we are sure you will come across similar tales.

What makes the shooting of a male, three-year-old swan on the banks of the River Severn last Friday especially sickening is the premeditated nature of the attack.

Four teenagers went down to Diglis with an airgun in a holdall with one objective in mind - to kill something.

What gratification they will have derived from such an act, perhaps only they could tell us.

The only tangible result of their behaviour is that we have now lost one more of these majestic birds, so spectacular to watch as they soar above the muddy Severn, or poke about the reeds by the riverside.

All it took was a few seconds to aim and pull the trigger - whichever of the four youths actually did so was irrelevant. They are all culpable.

As Edward Bird, of Bishopswood Swan Rescue Centre, said: "A couple of seconds have taken away the life of a lovely bird."

If the long arm of the law ever reaches out to touch this gang, maybe they could be brought before Mr Bird, who spends so much time caring for these animals, to explain 'why'?

Maybe when these boys eventually grow up, they will regret what they did on that rainy afternoon by the river.

But we doubt it.