Falconer jailed for bird neglect

A falconer whose birds were used in a Harry Potter film has been jailed for 12 weeks after admitting keeping them in "filthy" conditions.

Kenneth Lea, 50, of Bradford, West Yorkshire, pleaded guilty to 17 charges of neglect involving 51 specialist birds and 11 chickens.

He was sentenced at Wakefield Magistrates' Court after the birds were found at his former farm in Wakefield.

Nine of Lea's owls were used in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in 2005.

The scale of the neglect is quite shocking District Judge Susan Bouch

The eagle owls featured in a scene where Harry sends a letter to his godfather, Sirius Black.

As well as keeping hawks, Lea had a range of birds in his pens and aviaries.

The court heard the RSPCA found owls, falcons, hawks, buzzards and chickens injured, emaciated and caked in dirt and dried blood when officers went to the farm last June.

Ian Drummond, prosecuting, told the court the birds of prey were found in "poor" conditions.

Some had "chronic" injuries to their talons, feet, wings and beaks that needed urgent veterinary attention.

'Squalid and dirty'

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."

Louise Marshall, mitigating, 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 he lost funding for the venture.

Sentencing Lea to the jail sentence and a five-year ban on keeping animals, District Judge Susan Bouch told him: "I will echo the words the vet said in her statement, the scale of the neglect is quite shocking.

"She had to remove layers of dried dirt and congealed... blood from them before she treated them.

"That's the scale of the neglect we are talking about."