Pet ban for Wolverhampton man after bird kicked and dumped in bin
A cockerel was kicked six times, slammed to the floor and dumped in a bin by its owner after it had become trapped in a bramble bush, a court was told.
Stuart Ellis attacked the animal at the back of his Wolverhampton home in view of a horrified neighbour.
The 47-year-old was given a five-week curfew and was banned from keeping pets for three years after admitting causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal.
Despite its injuries the cockerel survived.
Wolverhampton Magistrates Court was told that a neighbour of Ellis, of Pagham Close, Pendeford, had told him that one of his chickens was stuck in a bush at about 6.30pm on September 5.
Prosecutor Mr Roger Price said: "The neighbour described how the defendant reacted by shrugging his shoulders, saying it would be all right."
Ellis eventually went out to the animal and wearing a pair of heavy working boots he kicked it "vigorously" five or six times, said the prosecutor. He added: "The chicken ran out of the brambles making high-pitched clucking noises.
"The neighbour then saw the defendant grab the chicken by both legs, flip it under his arms, twist its neck and slam it to the floor."
Mr Price said that during the attack the neighbour had been screaming at Ellis, who had a previous conviction for benefits fraud, for him to stop what he was doing. The RSPCA was informed and an inspector visited the following day.
Mr John Goode, defending, said his client kept a number of chickens and a dog "in perfectly good order which makes these actions more difficult to understand. He regrets his actions deeply."
District judge Graham Wilkinson told the court that Ellis's actions were "cruelty for cruelty's sake."
