A woman who walked an injured seagull on a leash has been banned from keeping any animals for a year. Anna Marie Marshall, 44, had been walking the heron gull on Parliament Street, York, United Kingdom after she found it in Scarborough and brought it with her on a city bus.
According to the Independent, when Marshall found the seagull, it had an injured wing. She refused to turn the bird over to the police calling them “murderers” and telling them she would rather wring the bird’s neck than let them take it away. When police attempted to arrest the homeless woman, she fell on the bird injuring it more seriously. After an examination by a nearby vet, there was nothing that could be done for the animal, and it was euthanized.
Marshall is said to be suffering from mental health problems and has lived on the streets for a decade. Her defense attorney told the court the woman appears to have hallucinations and didn’t want to hand the bird over to the police because she thought they would just kill it.
The woman pleaded guilty to injuring a wild bird, taking a wild bird, threatening and abusive behavior and refusing to surrender at court last week when the case was to be originally heard. The magistrate sentenced Marshall to a 12-month community service and barred her from keeping any animals for a year. District Judge Adrian Lower addressed Marshall stating:
“You took in an animal for care but had no ability to do that at all given your chaotic lifestyle. I can only hope you have learned from this experience and the next time you come across a sick or injured animal, however much you care for it, you will take the animal to someone better placed to care for it than you can.”
Not bad words of advice from a judge as to wildlife and all the ill-prepared people who, although they want to help, wind up causing the animal stress and more serious injuries.
Rest in peace innocent bird. Every life counts.
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Has anyone done anything about getting this poor woman off the streets?
Seriously? As much as I object to what this woman did. There have been worse cases of animal abuse where the culprit was not punished at all.