Man banned from keeping animals after giving ‘rescued' birds marijuana and painting their claws with nail polish
A Scarborough man who took a bubble bath with an injured bird, gave it marijuana and painted another bird's nails with glitter nail polish has been banned from keeping wild animals.
Lee Jefferson, 30, failed to seek veterinary treatment for a wood pigeon and a jackdaw that he had collected and kept in a 'puppy pen' at his home in Malton, North Yorkshire.
An RSPCA inspector was called to Jefferson's property in June 2024 after receiving a report from a member of the public, who said that Jefferson was keeping injured wild birds at his home with no treatment, and could not afford veterinary care for his injured cat.
Upon arriving, Inspector Laura Barber found the 'quiet, withdrawn and lethargic' jackdaw with a metal bracelet around its neck, with Jefferson claiming that he had been treating it with an immune protection paste specifically used for cats.
The wood pigeon was found with a bloody injured wing, which Jefferson had attempted to fix with grey gaffer tape.
When receiving advice that he should always arrange for injured animals to be seen by a vet, Jefferson told Inspector Barber that he wished to open an animal rescue centre in the future.
Upon taking the animals to the vet, Inspector Barber was sent copies of social media posts made by Jefferson, with one showing the jackdaw standing on a red sponge in a bubble bath.
The post read, verbatim: 'Meet Raven, im her new surrogate father saved from immediate death (frize in the road with broken leg, slight head injury, and a damaged foot that with two days of a splint has made a recovery.
'She isn't a fan of syringe feed ( 3 days of practising). She has started calling for me when put outside…. Goung to teach her to wolf whistle, YO and Hey. Hopefully her brain recovers with signs of great improvement already. She's happy and with probably now follow me forever.'
The RSPCA officer described another of Jefferson's posts as 'awful to watch'.
She added '[The video] showed a man's left leg leant up by the taps of the bath, again containing bubbles, to the left was the jackdaw floating on the red sponge, like the previous image, but this time the jackdaw had bubbles on the top of her head.
'There was loud reggae type music being played and the bird was just sitting there.
'At one point the man's leg … moved … back into the water touching the side of the floating sponge, and the bird appeared scared and jilted to correct herself so she didn't fall into the water. [The bird's] eyes were half closed, and (she) appeared to be frozen still, and shut down.'
It was suggested in the comments that the jackdaw had ingested some 'weed'.
Upon being examined by the vet, the wood pigeon was put to sleep as its wound had become infected, and it would have been suffering 'acute pain' from the open fracture.
Meanwhile, the jackdaw was found to have glittery nail polish on its claws, and was treated for dehydration and a dislocated toe.
Commenting on the social media post that had featured the jackdaw in the bath and the commentary about her ingesting marijuana, the vet said: 'This video alarmed and concerned me for a number of reasons … it is completely irresponsible to place a bird species that is not water-fowl in a deep area of water, both due to risk of drowning due to a lack of water-proofing and due to intense unnecessary stress that the bird was likely to be feeling, as this was a completely abnormal environment for it to be in.
'Marijuana toxicity could explain the lethargic, glazed demeanour of this bird in an environment that would usually cause panic.'
The vet continued: 'I am shocked and appalled that not only was this allowed to happen, but that Mr Jefferson appears,from his social media comments,to find it funny.
'This is a wild bird. It is unacceptable to treat any animal in this way, but the stress levels induced by this environment are appalling'.
He was charged with causing unnecessary pain and physical suffering to both birds, with his defence team stating that Jefferson was diagnosed with autism, ADHD and suffers with mental health difficulties.
After pleading guilty to two offences under the Animal Welfare Act, he was handed an 18-month community order requiring him to complete 30 days of rehabilitation activity requirements.
He has also been fined and handed a lifetime ban preventing him from keeping any wildlife.
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