As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

Sunday, 17 March 2019

Man smashed gull into wall, killing it, for stealing his chips


"This was an unthinkable and despicable way to treat an animal"
Neil Shaw  PlymouthLive, DevonLive And CornwallLive
11:33, 13 MAR 2019
A man brutally killed a gull in an act branded "unthinkable and despicable" because the bird knocked chips out of his hand.
John Llewellyn Jones, 64, killed the gull during a day trip to Weston Super Mare on July 17, 2018.
The lesser black backed gull flew around the defendant trying to reach his chips, and subsequently knocked his snack from his hand.
Jones' reaction "shocked by-standers, including children" - as witnesses observed him catch the gull by the leg and smash the animal into a wall, killing it.
Jones, from Bishopston Road, Cardiff, was found guilty of a Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 offence at North Somerset Magistrates' Court in Weston-Super-Mare yesterday. Jones had pleaded not guilty, but magistrates listened to two witnesses, and said their accounts were "credible and compelling", before finding the man guilty of the offence.
He was sentenced to a 12-week curfew, applicable between the hours of 8pm and 8am, which began immediately. Jones was also ordered to pay £750 in costs, and a £85 victim surcharge.

Gulls are protected under section 1 of the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981 - and Jones committed an offence by killing the wild bird.
The RSPCA say the man showed "blatant disregard for animal welfare" and "cared more for his chips than what his actions did to the poor gull".
Simon Evans, RSPCA inspector, said: "This was an unthinkable and despicable way to treat an animal - with this gull smashed against a wall by the man, solely because it knocked chips from his hand.
"This was deliberate cruelty, borne from the fact that this man cared more for his chips than what his actions did to the poor gull. Simply, the man showed blatant disregard for an animal because he was annoyed about his chips.
"Witnesses saw the attack - and shocked by-standers, including children, had to look on as the man killed the gull."
Source


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