Man banned from keeping birds after trapping wild finches in back garden

Nation.Cymru staff

A man has been banned from keeping birds for 15 years after illegally trapping and caging wild birds in his back garden.

Colwyn Probert, of Kingsmoor Caravan Park, Kilgetty, was prosecuted after RSPCA inspectors found goldfinches and other wild birds being kept at a property in Tenby.

Probert, 38, admitted three offences under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and one offence under the Animal Welfare Act 2006.

At Llanelli Magistrates’ Court on July 2, he was sentenced to eight weeks in prison, suspended for two years. He was also ordered to complete 20 Rehabilitation Activity Requirement days, comply with a six-month curfew and banned from keeping birds for 15 years.

The investigation began after a Dyfed-Powys Police rural crime officer reported concerns that wild birds were being trapped in the property’s back garden.

When RSPCA Animal Rescue Officer Ellie West visited the address with police in October last year, they found more than a dozen goldfinches and a mule-type bird inside an aviary, with a further 14 birds confined in small cages inside an adjoining room.

The RSPCA said the birds displayed the behaviour of wild-caught birds, repeatedly flying against the bars of their cages. Many of the goldfinches also had dark-coloured legs, which an expert said were characteristic of birds taken from the wild.

Officers also recovered three trapping cages, metal bird rings and ring cutters. One of the traps had previously been positioned beside a bird feeder in the garden.

The birds were seized and taken into RSPCA care before being transferred to Mallydams Wood Wildlife Centre in East Sussex, where they were rehabilitated and later released back into the wild.

An ornithological expert who examined the birds found several had damaged their beaks after repeatedly striking the cage bars, while one bird had lost its tail.

“I believe all the goldfinches were caught from the wild,” the expert said, adding that the condition of many of the birds suggested they had been kept in overcrowded cages.

Stressful

Sentencing Probert, the district judge said the birds may have been trapped to be sold and told him: “You put wild birds who should be free and wild in unsuitable cages, which must have been extremely stressful for them.”

Probert was also ordered to pay £400 in costs and a £154 victim surcharge. The court ordered the forfeiture of his traps, cages and bird rings.

Following the case, RSPCA Inspector Keith Hogben said: “These poor birds were treated like commodities. They were caged and unable to exhibit normal behaviour, while they were also living in a filthy environment with no clean water provided for them.

“All wild birds are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and it is illegal to deliberately kill, injure or take one, except under licence.”

---

Get more trusted Welsh news

Choose Nation.Cymru as a preferred source in Google News to see more of our journalism.