A HOMEOWNER found four dead foxes within 500 yards of his home after shots rang out at a Bournemouth golf course on Saturday night.

The man, who has asked not to be named, said he heard a shotgun being fired at the Knighton Heath Golf Club in Frances Road. The following morning, he found a dead fox at the bottom of his garden, which backs onto the course. His cat has been missing since Saturday night.

He and a friend later found another three foxes shot to death.

The resident, who lives with his wife and two-year-old son, said he feels the incident was not taken seriously by the police or management at the golf club.

"A lot of residents living around here heard it," he said.

"Many of them have called the police, but to be honest, I feel I've been fobbed off.

"I heard a gun being fired at least five times very close to our house.

"The last was so loud it sounded like it was in our garden. Since then, I've found four dead foxes - one of which was actually at the bottom of our garden - and a dead badger. We also can't find our cat.

"When I rang the police on Saturday night, they said there was someone out there who had a licence until the early hours of the morning. The manager of the club also said they had someone for pest control, although apparently that would just be a person with an air rifle for shooting rabbits, and that isn't what I heard."

Each of the foxes found by the resident sustained at least one serious wound. Photographs seen by the Daily Echo are too graphic to publish.

"I've found them all in the undergrowth - the carcasses haven't been cleared away," he said.

"It's very worrying to both myself and others that this has happened so close to a residential area.

"It almost seems like someone was out there late at night just shooting everything that moved.

"There are lots of families living here and it's a nasty incident. I find it all really unnerving."

Foxes are protected under a number of laws, and cannot be poisoned, gassed, asphyxiated, maimed, clubbed or drowned.

They are not categorised as vermin by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Golf club manager Reunert Bauser said: "There is a clear distinction between shots fired with an air pistol and those fired by a shotgun, which is what is being claimed.

"This is a police matter now, but on behalf of the club I want to say we don't allow any unlicensed persons to do any shooting, with shotguns or otherwise, on the golf course."

A spokesperson from Dorset Police said officers were called to reports a shotgun had been fired at the golf club shortly after 10.45pm.

"Following initial enquiries it was established that there was a pre-organised shooting event in the area that the force had been informed about. No offences were committed," the spokesperson said.