A duck amazingly survived being shot through the body with a crossbow arrow in York - but no-one has been able to catch it to give it medical attention.

The duck, a mallard, is alive and well, but, despite the best efforts of the RSPCA and others to get hold of it, the bird has always managed to get away, still with the arrow through its body.

Catherine Lambert found the duck while out walking her dog, just downstream from Skeldergate Bridge, after being told about its predicament by a visitor to the city who had been walking along the riverbank.

She was shocked that someone had been as cruel as to shoot the duck and, of all things, with a crossbow.

"It's terrible to think anyone could do a thing like that," she said.

The duck is eating and walking about, but Mrs Lambert feared that an infection might be caused by the arrow, which is still in the bird, from the back of the neck through to the chest area.

But she said that it would be almost impossible to get hold of the duck without some kind of large net as it always gets away.

"The RSPCA knows about it, but they haven't been able to catch it," she said.

Carrie Ellis, RSPCA spokeswoman, said several officers had spent four weeks trying to catch the duck but every time it saw the net it flew off.

She said the duck seemed fit and healthy and that the crossbow had not caused an infection, but that if any member of the public could catch it, they would be welcome to do so and then to contact the RSPCA. The duck could then be checked out at a vet's.

She said the RSPCA had not received any other calls about crossbow injuries to animals.