Farmer fined £7,500 for beating swans to death with shepherd's crook

Farmer identified as David Thompson who beat two swans to death with a shepherd’s crook has been fined £7,500. he pleaded guilty at Canterbury Magistrates' Court in the UK to killing two birds and wounding another after he was caught on camera during a Coastguard helicopter training exercise in April.
The 80-year-old attacked the swans after seeing them eating his rape seed crop on his farm in Snargate, Kent.
Footage captured by the Coastguard pilots was shown in court which captured Thompson tossing one of the swans into a ditch at the edge of the field.
Kent Police searched the farm at around 11pm that evening after the Coastguard reported the incident and found the swans.
One was already dead and two others were critically injured. A second later died on the way to a veterinary practice for emergency treatment, Kent Online reported.

Swans are a protected species under an ancient charter and the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
The maximum penalty for killing the bird is six months in prison.