A woman has been disqualified from keeping birds for four years after injuring a neighbour’s cockerel because of its loud early-morning crowing which would often wake her up.

Caroline Smith, 52 of Riley Green Marina, Hoghton, was found guilty of causing unnecessary suffering to Eddy, a black araucana cross cockerel, at Greater Manchester Magistrates’ Court sitting at Darlington Street, Wigan.

As well as being disqualified from keeping birds, she was ordered to pay costs of £1,296 and a victim surcharge of £114.

The incident took place at moorings on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal off Westhoughton Road, Adlington, Chorley, where the defendant and various witnesses had all lived close to each other on barges, each with their own land space for keeping poultry.

The court heard that on September 10, 2022, defendant Smith was woken up at 3am by the loud crowing of her neighbour’s cockerel Eddy.

Smith believed that her neighbour had previously agreed to ‘dispatch’ the animal but had subsequently killed the wrong bird, so decided to take matters into her own hands.

Her violent actions injured Eddy, resulting in a period of unconsciousness and clinical signs which suggested brain damage from trauma or oxygen deprivation.

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.”

After examining Eddy, the vet found blood around the bird’s nostrils.

He reported that 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 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.

But 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,”