A delivery driver who viciously attacked a gull trying to swoop on his bread has been fined.
Alistair Davidson previously admitted intentionally or recklessly injuring the young bird outside the Co-op in Thurso.
The 60-year-old threw a stick at the bird before stamping on its head to “put it out of its misery”, Wick Sheriff Court heard.
The incident happened early on August 17 last year when Davidson was making a delivery to the supermarket in Meadow Lane.
There was a gull nearby, and in an attempt to scare it away Davidson threw the stick he usually uses to pull his delivery trollies up an incline at it.
However, fiscal David Barclay said the gull changed direction and was hit by the stick.
When cautioned and charged, Davidson, of Birch Place, Culloden, told the police officers: “It was an accident more than anything else. I threw the stick to scare the bird away. Unfortunately, the gull went the wrong way. I stood on it to put it out of its misery.”
The court previously heard that Davidson had been trying to prevent the gull from contaminating the bread he was delivering.
Then sheriff Andrew Berry – who has since retired – described the accused’s behaviour as “completely inappropriate” and said he should have called a vet to deal with the situation more humanely.
When Davidson appeared for sentence today, his solicitor David Paterson said the first offender had been acting on a rush of adrenaline adding: “It was not his finest moment.”
He said Davidson was of exemplary character, and was fully remorseful about his actions and embarrassed at landing himself in court.
Sheriff Christian Marney fined him £500.