A Charnwood man has been charged following an act of animal cruelty at Yerrabi Pond in Gungahlin.

Police said they were called after a report of a dead black swan at the park at 3.40pm on Friday.

A short time later, officers found a man in a vehicle parked on Wunderlich Street in Gungahlin.

The 18-year-old man was arrested and charged with aggravated cruelty to an animal causing death.

He was released on watch house bail with strict conditions to appear in the ACT Magistrates Court on 14 October.

Police would not say how the swan was killed.