Police are appealing for information after eight dead foxes were found dumped at the roadside in north Suffolk at the weekend.

Suffolk police's rural crime team tweeted a picture of the dead animals, which were found on Sunday at the side of the B1074 road between Flixton and Oulton Broad, near Lowestoft.

Sergeant Brian Calver, from Suffolk police, confirmed the foxes were shot by the same ammunition after viewing the x-rays.

It is legal to shoot foxes with a lawfully held firearm.

Sgt Calver said: "As long as they are shot with a lawfully held firearm, it's legal to dispatch them as they have no protection per se.

"I've had a look at the x-rays and it appears they were all shot with the same ammunition so it's been done ethically.

"The problem here is the way they have been disposed.

"It's not unheard of for a fox to be shot on land and tucked under a hedgerow to let nature take its course but these have been collected up.

"In essence, they have been fly-tipped."

Sgt Calver said that investigations into the incident are under way.

"The vast majority of people and pest controllers will dispose of the animals in the correct way," he added.

"But we are having a look at this, and asking anyone with any information to come forward.

"My initial worry was that they had been poisoned but there is nothing to suggest that that is the case."