Merthyr Tydfil men who fired rat 'cannonball' sentenced

Three men who admitted firing a rat out of a pipe like a cannonball have been sentenced.

A "horrific" video of the incident appeared on Facebook, prompting scores of calls to the RSPCA.

Shaun Mark Fussell and Lee Edward Jones, from Merthyr Tydfil, and William Morgan, from Mountain Ash, Rhondda Cynon Taff, admitted animal cruelty.

They were each given a 12 month community order at Merthyr Magistrates' Court on Monday.

A statement from the RSPCA said the video showed a rat being caught with pliers in a tyre fitting shop at Merthyr Tydfil.

The rat was then hit on the head before being forced into a pipe fixed to an air compressor.

It was shot out of the pipe using the compressor, into the air and over a neighbouring building.

The RSPCA statement said Fussell, 29, of Treharris, Jones, 42, of Pentrebach and Morgan, 36, pleaded guilty to jointly causing the unnecessary suffering of a rat.

They will each have to carry out 180 hours of unpaid work over the next 12 months and were also ordered to pay £360 costs and a £85 victim surcharge each.

RSPCA inspector Gemma Cooper said: "This was such a horrific case where this rat suffered unnecessarily.

"Even though some people see rats as vermin they are still protected by law in certain circumstances. They are still living creatures that feel fear and pain.

"We never found the rat but it surely suffered extremely from the horrifying incident."