Sickening CCTV footage has caught hideous cruelty as yobs “play football” with a hedgehog.

The awful clip that had been uploaded to social media captured a gang of yobs repeatedly kicking the defenceless animal in Hartlepool.

The video was captured at 9.52pm on Monday, July 22, and involves three males who have all now been interviewed by police.

The footage sparked fury on social media with one resident saying: “What a lovely bunch of young people we have, playing football with an innocent hedgehog.”

At the time of reporting the incident, TeessideLive said the video had been viewed 367 times – but it seems as though it has now been removed from Facebook.

One resident said in a local Facebook group: “Can the person who posted the video of the hedgehog being used as a football please message me as I can’t locate the post anymore. 

“The Police are opening an investigation but need the video uploading to a form they’ve emailed me, I did put the link on my original report but it needs uploading properly on this form,” reports The Mirror.

According to the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 it is illegal to kill or capture hedgehogs unless they are suffering or need to be rehabilitated and then released back into the wild.

Following the death of a hedgehog officers have now interviewed two boys voluntarily.

A Cleveland Police spokesperson said: “On Monday 29th July, two twelve-year-old boys were interviewed voluntarily in relation to causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal. 

“A third boy has been eliminated from the enquiry. 

“Both boys will now be referred to the Youth Offending Team.”

It is understood the incident has also been reported to the RSPCA. 

A similar act of cruelty also occurred in Teesside in 2019, with a gang of thugs brutally kicking a hedgehog to death in the street. The four youngsters – believed to aged 12 and 13 – were spotted by a passer-by kicking the helpless creature like a football.

They reportedly tried to intervene in the horrific attack, but sadly the hedgehog was already dead.

It occurred on Junction Road in Norton, Teesside, and was reported to hedgehog rescue group HoggyStockton Rescue.

Anne Purchase-Walker, from the group, said she was “horrified” after hearing what had happened, reports Teesside Live.

“We are sadly not surprised,” she said.

“Hoggy Stockton Rescue Centre opens its doors in 2016.

“Since that time we have been made aware of four cruelty cases, all of which have happened in the last two years and two involving youths and children.

“This behaviour is completely and utterly unacceptable.

“We don’t condone it and we’re doing everything we can to stop it.”