L
lowell
I'm defo boycotting Harry Potter though, for cruely against magical creatures! What? They aren't real? Kidding me!
Sad things is this was in my local paper and national papers the guy who trained the owls for Harry Potter movies who lives not far from me was prosecuted for cruelty to them! You sholud have seen the conditions they were living in
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Harry Potter bird expert jailed for animal cruelty
6:00am Tuesday 12th May 2009
By Michael Black »
A falconer whose owls were used in a Harry Potter film has been jailed for 12 weeks after admitting keeping birds of prey in “filthy, squalid, dirty” conditions.
Kenneth Lea, 50, of Bierley Lane, Bradford, had pleaded guilty to 17 charges of neglect involving 51 specialist birds and 11 chickens.
He was sentenced yesterday at Wakefield Magistrates’ Court after the RSPCA found several birds, including owls, falcons, hawks, buzzards and chickens injured, emaciated and caked in dirt and dried blood at his former farm in Wakefield last June.
Ian Drummond, prosecuting, told the court the birds of prey had been found in aviaries and pens in “poor” conditions.
Some had “chronic” injuries to their talons, feet, wings and beaks that needed urgent veterinary attention and many were left with no food or water.
The chickens were found to be “extremely thin” in a paddock, where two carcasses were also found. Seven dead birds of prey were found in Mr Lea’s freezer.
Mr Drummond said a report written by a vet who visited the farm read: “I’ve seen plenty of unhygienic animal enclosures but never in my entire professional life have I encountered premises this squalid and dirty.
“The best explanation to describe the state of the entire farm was filthy, squalid, dirty.”
Nine eagle owls belonging to Lea were used in the film Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in 2005, in a scene where Harry sends a letter to his godfather, Sirius Black.
In mitigation, Louise Marshall told the court it was Lea’s “dream” to set up an animal sanctuary and bird of prey centre at the farm but he was left in “dire straits” when Wakefield Council pulled out of funding the venture.
Sentencing Lea to the jail sentence and a five-year ban on keeping animals, District Judge Susan Bouch described the neglect as “chronic and prolonged”.
She told Lea: “This is a very serious offence. I will echo the words the vet said in her statement, the scale of the neglect is quite shocking.”
She continued: “She had to remove layers of dried dirt and congealed wound blood from them before she treated them. That’s the scale of the neglect we are talking about.”
The judge said the hens had been “systematically starved” and a common buzzard, called Charlie, “would have suffered chronic mental torture”.
She added: “The animals, I am told, hadn’t been appropriately fed for a long time, which led to the severe and chronic suffering.”
Speaking after the sentencing, RSPCA inspector Carol Neale said she was “very happy” with the sentence. She said: “It reflects the seriousness and immensity of the problem, it was just totally uncalled for.”
Sad things is this was in my local paper and national papers the guy who trained the owls for Harry Potter movies who lives not far from me was prosecuted for cruelty to them! You sholud have seen the conditions they were living in
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Harry Potter bird expert jailed for animal cruelty
6:00am Tuesday 12th May 2009
By Michael Black »
A falconer whose owls were used in a Harry Potter film has been jailed for 12 weeks after admitting keeping birds of prey in “filthy, squalid, dirty” conditions.
Kenneth Lea, 50, of Bierley Lane, Bradford, had pleaded guilty to 17 charges of neglect involving 51 specialist birds and 11 chickens.
He was sentenced yesterday at Wakefield Magistrates’ Court after the RSPCA found several birds, including owls, falcons, hawks, buzzards and chickens injured, emaciated and caked in dirt and dried blood at his former farm in Wakefield last June.
Ian Drummond, prosecuting, told the court the birds of prey had been found in aviaries and pens in “poor” conditions.
Some had “chronic” injuries to their talons, feet, wings and beaks that needed urgent veterinary attention and many were left with no food or water.
The chickens were found to be “extremely thin” in a paddock, where two carcasses were also found. Seven dead birds of prey were found in Mr Lea’s freezer.
Mr Drummond said a report written by a vet who visited the farm read: “I’ve seen plenty of unhygienic animal enclosures but never in my entire professional life have I encountered premises this squalid and dirty.
“The best explanation to describe the state of the entire farm was filthy, squalid, dirty.”
Nine eagle owls belonging to Lea were used in the film Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in 2005, in a scene where Harry sends a letter to his godfather, Sirius Black.
In mitigation, Louise Marshall told the court it was Lea’s “dream” to set up an animal sanctuary and bird of prey centre at the farm but he was left in “dire straits” when Wakefield Council pulled out of funding the venture.
Sentencing Lea to the jail sentence and a five-year ban on keeping animals, District Judge Susan Bouch described the neglect as “chronic and prolonged”.
She told Lea: “This is a very serious offence. I will echo the words the vet said in her statement, the scale of the neglect is quite shocking.”
She continued: “She had to remove layers of dried dirt and congealed wound blood from them before she treated them. That’s the scale of the neglect we are talking about.”
The judge said the hens had been “systematically starved” and a common buzzard, called Charlie, “would have suffered chronic mental torture”.
She added: “The animals, I am told, hadn’t been appropriately fed for a long time, which led to the severe and chronic suffering.”
Speaking after the sentencing, RSPCA inspector Carol Neale said she was “very happy” with the sentence. She said: “It reflects the seriousness and immensity of the problem, it was just totally uncalled for.”
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