Farmer sentenced for neglect and cockfighting offences

Douglas Rufus Price (39) of Valley Farm, Low Lane, Bradford, was sentenced at Bradford Crown Court on Friday 8 September in relation to a number of animal welfare offences.

West Yorkshire Police and the RSPCA attended the working farm in February last year and found 22 hens and cockerels in makeshift pens, some without food and water, and some suffering from featherloss and injuries consistent with fighting.

RSPCA inspector Demi Hodby, who investigated, said: “All of the birds at the site appeared to be underweight with feather loss on their chest and the majority of them were bald in this area. On closer observation, a number of the cockerels had injuries and all appeared to have had their combs cut. There was a limited amount of food and water provided in each pen and some had no provisions at all.

“Inside one of the wooden pens there was a hen which was unable to bear weight on one of her legs. Inside the metal pen there was a cockerel which was limping and had a swollen leg and inside a shed there was another hen which was also limping. Due to the number of animal welfare concerns, I contacted a vet immediately who confirmed to me that a number of these birds would have been suffering.”

The vet found that a total of 14 hens and cockerels were in a state of neglect and some had been caused unnecessary suffering. One dead cockerel was located at the scene, and sadly three birds were subsequently put to sleep on the advice of the vet to end their suffering.

Ian Muttitt, chief inspector for the RSPCA’s special operations unit (SOU), said: “I have investigated cockfighting offences for a number of years and reviewed hours of footage relating to this crime and it was very clear to me that several sequences of the footage obtained from Price’s mobile phone depicted cockfight sparring sessions.

“It was clear to me that the person responsible for these birds has an unhealthy interest in cockfighting and was keeping and training these birds for the purpose of animal fighting.”

In mitigation, the court heard that Price is illiterate, with no formal education, and is also the sole carer for his children and grandchildren. He runs a working farm and so his business and his home could be at risk if he lost his liberty, and any disqualification order would impact his ability to run the farm.

For causing unnecessary suffering and failing to meet the needs of hens and cockerels, Price was handed a suspended sentence of three months for each offence to run concurrently.

For the training of birds to fight, he was given a six month suspended sentence bringing his custodial term to nine months. This was suspended for a period of 18 months.

He was also ordered to carry out 20 rehabilitation activity days and 100 hours of unpaid work for the benefit of the community. He was also ordered to pay a £128 victim surcharge and £400 in costs. The poultry owner was also disqualified from keeping hens and cockerels for 12 months.

The surviving birds were taken into the RSPCA’s care and were subsequently rehomed.