EDITORIAL: It might seem over the top to run a news story on the destruction of a community of birds which some people probably consider a pest (story P5).

"The Gympie Times must have been hard up for news yesterday," some jokers will no doubt say.

We were not.

More than a dozen dead birds, and 16 injured chicks were found among broken nests and feather clumps underneath the Southside Town Centre this week.

Welcome swallows are actually native birds, protected under the Nature Conservation Act.

If the grubs responsible for killing them are found, they will be charged.

It is unwise for any community to ignore or condone such acts of senseless animal cruelty.

People capable of animal cruelty show a lack of respect for life, and a brutality most of us find abhorrent here in Australia.

I would even venture to say such behaviour points to a lack of respect and compassion for human life. And that is not good for society.