Preston woman prosecuted by RSPCA for strangling crowing cockerel on Leeds & Liverpool Canal

Caroline Smith, 52, of Riley Green Marina, Hoghton has been prosecuted by the RSPCA after she tried to kill her neighbour’s Araucana cross cockerel, Eddy.

The incident took place in September 2022 on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal where Smith and Eddy’s owner lived close to each other on barges moored at Riley Green marina, with their own parcel of land for keeping poultry.

Smith was woken up at 3am by Eddy’s loud crowing. She believed that her neighbour had previously agreed to ‘dispatch’ the animal but had subsequently killed the wrong bird, so Smith decided to take matters into her own hands.

RSPCA inspector Lyndsey Taylor said: “Last September, the RSPCA received a call from a member of the public concerned that a woman had been seen trying to kill a bird but failed and left it to suffer. The incident was also reported to Lancashire Police.

“When I called the person who had reported the incident - who was a close neighbour of the defendant - he informed me that he was taking Eddy the cockerel to the emergency vets after an attack.

"The caller believed that the defendant had tried to strangle Eddy and had hit him with a boat fender, which left the cockerel unconscious for a few minutes.”

Smith’s violent actions left Eddy unconsciousness and vets suspected he suffered brain damage from trauma or oxygen deprivation.

Blood was found around the bird’s nostrils and the cockerel was displaying clinical signs - including being wobbly - consistent with having sustained a brain injury, either via head trauma or via oxygen deprivation by asphyxiation, perhaps following an attempt to dislocate the bird’s neck.

The vet felt that it was not possible to determine if permanent brain damage had occurred and whether Eddy may have been left with a longstanding or permanent disability.

He was of the view that the cockerel would survive but would need close monitoring once he was back home with his flock of hens.

Inspector Taylor added: “There is never an excuse for deliberately harming and causing unnecessary suffering to an animal like this.

“Smith said that she worked nights and had been disturbed by noise made by Eddy’s owners - especially from their cockerel over the past couple of months - but other solutions could and should have been explored; rather than resorting to treating an animal like this.”

She was found guilty of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal when she appeared at Greater Manchester Magistrates’ Court in Wigan on June 15, 2023.

She has been disqualified from keeping birds for four years and was ordered to pay costs of £1,296, as well as a victim surcharge of £114.