AN ANIMAL welfare charity has branded an attack on defenceless pigs and sheep in East Yorkshire as "sickening".
Three men have appeared in court for climbing into a field near Flamborough and hurting the farmyard animals.
The three, said to have been drunk when they committed the offence, have now been given community sentences at Bridlington Magistrates' Court.
Katya Mira, of the RSPCA said: "This was a senseless and sickening attack on some defenseless animals who have done nothing wrong.
"We hope the fact these people were brought to justice sends out a very strong message to others that violence and cruelty to animals is unacceptable and against the law."
The three men attacked a paddock of pigs and rare-breed sheep off Butlers Lane with stones and a wooden fence post after a late-night drinking session in Bridlington in August.
The animals were left cowering and shaking in their pens because they had been so distressed by the attack.
Daniel Thomas Hall, 21, of Church Lane, Flamborough, Robert Lee, 18, of Lighthouse Road, Flamborough, and Daniel Alan Wood, 18, of the Dog and Duck in Flamborough, all pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal when they appeared at Bridlington Magistrates' Court.
The court heard that at about 6.15am on August 4, shouting was heard coming from a field in Maitland, Flamborough.
Three people were seen in the field and appeared to be drunk.
One of them, later identified as Hall, hit one of the pigs with a fence post.
Wood was seen throwing stones at the pigs and kicking one of them. Lee was seen chasing the sheep.
A witness started filming what was happening with his camcorder.
A police spokesman said the three had been out drinking in Bridlington the night before and had been "extremely intoxicated".
When landowner David Chapel arrived later in the morning, he found the animals cowering in their pens. One pig had suffered bruising and an injury to its head.
Hall, Lee and Wood were each given 12-month community orders, which included 150 hours of unpaid work. They were all ordered to pay £40 court costs.
Sarah Chapel, who owns the animals along with her husband David, said she had hoped the three would be given more serious sentences.
But Daniel Wood's father, David Wood, landlord of the Dog and Duck, said it had been little more than a prank.
He said: "They had just been out drinking. It was just a stupid prank, it wasn't a big thing.
"Daniel is back at sea fishing. It's all behind him now."
