A North Canterbury family is "bloody devastated" after their only stag was found shot and decapitated on their block of land over the weekend.
Glenn Kruger was the owner of Oxford the stag, and said his family are dismayed at the killing of their beloved animal - and implore the offender to return his head.
"What has happened to our stag is just beyond belief and very difficult to comprehend," Mr Kruger told Stuff.
On Saturday morning, May 19, a neighbour warned Mr Kruger that Oxford had been shot and decapitated in his paddock in Ashley Gorge.
"We're angry and we're bloody devastated. He wasn't just another number on a farm.
"What they've done is utterly disgraceful. I would hate to see this happen to another family, it's just absolutely gut wrenching."
Mr Kruger said Oxford was a popular animal in the local community.
"Friends would come around [to see him] and everybody was just blown away by him really because he looked amazing and he was good natured," he said.
Mr Kruger also appealed for Oxford's decapitated head, which was taken, to be returned:
"That has a lot of sentimental value to us. It's obviously not going to bring a live animal back, but it would have a lot of value to us."
Support has flooded in online for the Kruger family after a relative's Facebook post on the crime was shared more than 11,000 times.
A police spokeswoman said officers were making inquiries and for anyone with information to contact them.
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