Woman fined for cruelty to birds of prey

ANIMAL welfare workers have welcomed a life ban imposed on a woman who kept four wild birds in such "disgusting and dangerous" circumstances that two had to be put down.

Investigators from the Scottish SPCA found a Harris hawk, a kestrel and two barn owls in filthy unsuitable accommodation at a Kintyre farm. The barn owls were kept in a rabbit hutch that was so small they could not stand upright. The kestrel, whose flight feathers were all broken, was held in a filthy parrot cage.

Catherine Craig said she kept the hawk to hunt rabbits, but inspectors said it was "obvious" that the bird had not flown for years.

Craig, 49, of Glenlussa House, Peniver, Kintyre, pleaded guilty at Campbeltown Sheriff Court to causing unnecessary suffering. She was ordered to make a 500 donation to the SSPCA.