A reward of £1,000 is being offered in the hunt to find the yobs who killed a family of cygnets.

Up to seven baby swans, which lived on the River Ouse in Lewes, died in what animal experts suspect was an attack by thugs.

They were the offspring of a pair of swans who had made their nests on two pallets and some hay which had been placed on the river bank near the Tesco store in the town.

One of the parents was also injured in the attack and the pair have now disappeared.

Butcher Colin Staplehurst was so upset when he heard about what had happened to the creatures he put up a reward of £500 to help find those responsible.

And that sum has since been matched by a customer who put up another £500.

Mr Staplehurst, 51, who runs Colin Staplehurst's Butchers in the Riverside Centre in Lewes, said: "I feel very strongly about this. They have killed these cygnets for the sake of killing them.

"They have picked on the swans for no reason. I was so angry I put up a £500 reward and one of my customers has been brilliant and matched it."

Mr Staplehurst has pinned reward posters to Cliffe Bridge in the town asking for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the cygnets' deaths.

Already information has been passed to him which he will give to police.

Trevor Weeks, of the East Sussex Wildlife Rescue and Ambulance Service, who is also appealing for information, said when the swans first nested on the site they were subjected to attacks.

He said: "We had a number of reports of yobs throwing stones at them. I went up there to keep an eye on them but you can't be there all the time."

Anyone with any information which may lead to the conviction of those responsible for the birds' death should phone 01273 487226 or 07815 078234.