A dad has been accused of child abuse after he shared a picture of his four-year-old son holding a gun and a dead parakeet.
The smiling lad was pictured in his stripy wellies holding the bird upside down in one hand and the single-barrel .410 in the other hand.
The man, only identified as Mr Moss, sent the picture into Shooting Times alongside a letter in which he boasted: “Bang! And the parakeet was history.”
The letter has caused outrage among animal lovers who slammed the father and the magazine for glorifying killing.
Julie Doug wrote: “Teaching such a young child to kill for fun, turning that child into a potential psychopath.
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"I think that’s child abuse.”
The man explained in his letter that he had bought the weapon for his son as an early fourth birthday present.
He was then teaching him how to use it on his farm in Hertfordshire when a flock of parakeets landed in a nearby tree
The dad's letter in full
The dad wrote: "I took my boy out with the Baikal single-barrel .410 that I bought him as an early fourth birthday present.
"We found an old teddy bear on the rubbish pile at our Hertfordshire farm and set it up at about 15 yards, so he could have a go at pulling the triger.
"Just as we were lining up for the third or fourth time, a screeching sound came from nowhere and with it a group of eight to 10 parakeets landed in the small poplar tree a mere 30 yards behind us.
"With a little excitement and a steady helping hand from me, we lined up on the one at the front of the pack.
"As I called 'now,' bang! And the parakeet was history."
