An animal rights group has accused hunters of leaving the body of a dead seal to be found by shocked holidaymakers at a north-east beach.
Police were called after the creature was found floating in the water with gunshot wounds on Wednesday afternoon.
Activists from Sea Shepherd UK are currently based in the village of Gardenstown where they are trying to block a seal cull by a local salmon company.
The Scottish Wild Salmon Company (USAN) is licensed to shoot animals harassing its nets, however the campaigners claim marksmen are failing in their duty to remove any carcasses.
Sea Shepherd volunteer Sharon Johnstone said the dead seal was in full view of tourists walking along the village’s beach.
“There are quite a lot of holidaymakers here, kids and teenagers, who are quite upset by it,” she said.
“It was one of our guys who found it. It has attracted quite a lot of attention and it’s not very pleasant. It has clearly been shot and left.
“Usan are supposed to pick it up and not just leave it. They’re meant to make a reasonable attempt to recover the seal’s body so it doesn’t wash up on the beach where families are paddling.”
Last night Usan director George Pullar said he was not aware of any seal that had been shot and abandoned.
“I will instruct my colleagues up there to find out where it is, because we did not know anything about it,” he said.
“If we know it is there, we will get it removed.”
A spokeswoman for the police confirmed officers went to the beach following the discovery.
She said: “We received a report at 3.40pm – a caller reporting an illegally shot grey seal.”
However, she said she could not confirm whether any illegal activity had taken place.
Sea Shepherd is offering a £7,500 bounty for evidence which leads to the prosecution of an individual or company for killing seals illegally around the coast of the UK.