Gail Hurry thinks snowmobilers chased this fox down for sport, surrounded it, then ran over it several times, killing it. (Pat Martel/CBC)

A Charlottetown couple is accusing snowmobilers of running over and killing a young fox in a field behind their home.

Gail Hurry and her husband Paul heard the machines roaring through the field around midnight Friday night.

They spotted the animal's crushed body in the snow on Saturday.

"You can see the tracks, around and around. They went around this animal. They had him cornered. He had nowheres to run," said Hurry, who believes the fox was run over several times.

"I definitely think there should be some kind of a charge. You just can't do this," she said.

"My dog comes out here and just runs out here in the evening. If they would do this to any animal, what would they do?"

Hurry said she called police and asked them to investigate.

"They said they … pretty much couldn't do anything because they didn't know what snowmobile it was.

"The city crew was called and I asked them to keep the fox here until we contacted the media. I just wanted people to know that this is something an individual can do."

The remains of the fox have been taken to the Atlantic Veterinary College for investigation.