Aussie grandfather does the unthinkable to a chicken when visiting a local wildlife park

Grandfather Peter Smith has been given a non-custodial sentence for an act of ‘sadism’ when he grabbed a beloved chicken known as Betty White and threw it into an alligator pen at a wildlife park.

Smith had watched an alligator kill the chicken for his own viewing pleasure and nothing else, Magistrate Justin Peach said in Raymond Terrace Local Court on Wednesday.

“There is, in my opinion, a degree of sadism in this act,” Peach told Smith, who visibly trembled as the sentence was handed down.

He was ordered to serve a nine-month corrections order and perform 100 hours of community service.

Smith, 58, had pleaded guilty on January 2 to one charge of aggravated animal cruelty at Oakvale game park in Salt Ash in the NSW Hunter region, but claimed he only wanted to feed the chicken to an alligator because it looked hungry.

The Hunterview man had reached over a concrete rock wall and grabbed the white Chinese Silkie bantam from his enclosure before tucking it into his shirt.

Smith then walked through the reptile exhibit to the alligator enclosure before throwing Betty White into the pond where two 8-foot alligators lurked.

One of the alligators put the chicken in its mouth and killed it instantly, as Smith watched.

Defense attorney Bryan Wrench told the court Wednesday that Smith was a grandfather, had no criminal record and had grown up on a farm where he caught and killed animals for food.

Mr Wrench said Smith had become desensitized to chickens and only regarded them as a food source.

The defense attorney said more than a million chickens were killed for food consumption each year, noting that Betty White died instantly and was not tortured or mutilated.

Mr. Wrench suggested an argument could be made that the alligator involved was guilty of animal cruelty, not Smith.

Mr. Peach warned the attorney against making that argument, stating that Betty White was a much-loved, domesticated, hand-raised chicken used in the park’s breeding program.

An alligator put the chicken in its mouth and killed it instantly

The magistrate said park staff were concerned about the fate of the chicken and he considered the offense to be slightly above average for animal cruelty.

A psychological report revealed that Smith came from a good family and was a member of a religious community with a strong moral code.

Peach said Smith claimed he put the chicken in his shirt because he believed others in the park would be able to see what bad he was doing and be offended because of political correctness.

“You have made a serious mistake,” the magistrate told the trembling Smith.

‘Your attitude towards pets needs a lot of introspection.’

Smith declined to comment outside court.