500 animals found in car in Northern Ireland

The USPCA are investigating a shocking incident of animal cruelty after 500 animals were discovered in the back of a student's car in Coleraine.

The animals - including birds, hamsters, rabbits, guinea pigs and a Chinese water dragon - were in boxes and cages in the Renault Clio parked on Cromore Road.

No water had been left for them. The USPCA revealed 75 of the animals died of suspected heat stroke and dehydration.

While many of the survivors were taken to vets' surgeries, it is feared more may die.

The car owner is believed to be a male in his early 20s. It is understood he may have left the animals in the car for six hours while at university and was planning to take them to pet wholesalers in Co Donegal on Friday evening.

The alarm was raised after a member of the public noticed a number of birds in the locked car acting in a distressed manner.