A five-week-old puppy has been put down after being found beaten around the head in the Australian city of Canberra.

ABC News says the young dog was found abandoned in a box with eight other puppies in the north of the city.

The animals were taken to the RSPCA by a member of the public, and one of them had serious head injuries.

The group has appealed for the public's help so they can find those responsible.

Tammy Ven Dange from the RSPCA told ABC News: "He was obviously hit with a blunt instrument of some sort, we have no idea what."

"When I saw that puppy, and the condition that he was in, after we put him down, it just broke my heart," she added.