Gold Coast police are preparing a report for the RSPCA after a duck was bludgeoned to death in Robina overnight.
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Police have spoken to a young man, believed to be a teenager, about the incident near a lagoon off Riverwalk Avenue at Robina but no charges have been laid.
RSPCA spokesman Michael Beatty compared the incident to the infamous killing of an alpaca at a school north of Brisbane in October 2012.
"If you look at it in perspective there's no difference in bludgeoning an alpaca to death than there is in bludgeoning a duck to death," he said.
"It's just callous and unnecessary and you'd have to try and understand what sort of possible pleasure somebody would get out of bludgeoning an animal to death."
Initial reports suggested a flock of ducks had been killed but a Queensland Police Service spokesman said only the one bird had been killed.
He couldn't say what time the duck was killed or what weapon was used.
Police will prepare a report for the RSPCA, which can then choose whether to prosecute under the Animal Care and Protection Act 2001.
Mr Beatty said the alleged offender could be looking at a charge of animal cruelty depending on his age and the exact circumstances of the crime.
"It would be interesting to know what actually happened," he said.
"Whether they were throwing rocks at the duck or whether they just bashed the duck over the head so it's a bit hard to tell."
He said ducks were not common targets for animal cruelty but some had been shot with arrows in recent times.