Animal cruelty charges have been laid against a 17-year-old after he allegedly drove a vehicle over several sleeping geese in a Winnipeg parking lot, killing most of them.

Police say the teen ran over the geese during a half-hour spree in an SUV on Saturday night.

The geese were killed on Henlow Bay in West Fort Garry Industrial Park and then on Sterling Lyon Parkway in the Seasons of Tuxedo shopping district, police said in a news release on Tuesday.

A sleeping goose was left injured in a parking lot on Henlow Bay at 9:53 p.m., and four minutes later in an adjacent lot, two sleeping geese were killed.

Two more were killed at 10:17 p.m. They were chased from their nest, then run over in a strip mall parking lot next to Ikea on Sterling Lyon Parkway, police said.

Officers identified the SUV through security footage and arrested the teen at his home on Monday. He faces five charges of killing or injuring animals.

He was released from custody with a court date but the investigation is continuing, police said.

Canada geese area protected birds. It is illegal to kill, harm or disturb them, their nests, or eggs without a federal permit.

They are also classified as game birds and can be hunted during designated seasons.