SATTAR Mohammed tried to feed a sparrow hawk on chapatis and nuts after being given the wild bird by a man in the street, a court was told.
But after keeping the creature for three days -- during which it ate half a pound of raw meat a day, scratched him on the hand and tried to bite him -- Mohammed decided to get rid of the unfriendly bird of prey.
Blackburn magistrates heard that Mohammed, 59, travelled from his home in Bradford and entered the creature in a livestock auction in Clitheroe, where it was spotted by an RSPCA observer.
Mohammed pleaded guilty possessing a live bird of prey, transporting it and offering it for sale.
Mohammed, who told the court he had no income other than that provided by his three grown-up children, was given a conditional discharge for 12 months and ordered to pay £300 costs.
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