A "distraught animal lover" was arrested after police seized his phone and found a one minute video of a naked man performing a sex act on a chicken.
Mark Powell denied possessing the extreme pornographic footage showing the animal being sexually abused.
The 43-year-old claimed he would often be sent "edgy" videos on Whatsapp from friends - who he said have an "unusual sense of humour" - and "innocently" forward them on.
However, when officers searched his mobile phone, they uncovered 150 videos, including clips of 'pornstars and females', Teesside Live reports.
Powell, of Groom Terrace, was brought before Teesside Magistrates' Court for sentencing on Tuesday, following a pre-sentence report.
The defendant denied possession of the material and authorities attended his home on November 16, 2020, prosecutor Lynne Dalton stated.
Powell's mobile phone was seized and found to contain files of "extreme bestiality".
The court heard how the illegal video was one minute and 15 seconds in length and showed a "naked adult male" made to perform a sex act on a chicken.
Powell was arrested and interview by Cleveland Police and told officers that he has "friends with an unusual sense of humour".
However, he didn't dispute sending the file - but says it was done so "innocently".
The court heard how Powell is "send loads [of videos] off the lads" who are "having a laugh" but he "forgets all about them".
There was around 150 videos found on Powell's device - including 'porn content, pornstars and females' - but "some of them are jokes".
During trial, Powell said: "I used to get quite a lot of joke videos from various people on WhatsApp. I wouldn't look at them all but I'd get sent them from friends and just forward them on.
"I didn't see the video and if I had done I'd have been disgusted. I'd have deleted it and asked the person to not send me anything like that again - I'm an animal lover."
He said he was working away in West Bromwich in his role as a construction assessor when he received the video in September 2017.
He sent the video twice on June 12, 2019, and November 2, 2020, and the police were alerted.
On one of the occasions he sent it along with more than 100 other videos. None of the others were illegal.
Neil Douglas, mitigating, told how Powell "may have had the image on his phone but didn't know he was in possession of it".
The Middlesbrough court also hear how "someone else of a higher profile" was allegedly found with material on their phone and the "investigation worked backwards from there".
Mr Douglas added that Powell is "in the middle of the exchange [of videos]" but not "the originating source".
"One video has breached the rules on decency and I invite you to put that into context," the defence solicitor told the magistrates' bench.
Mr Douglas stated that Powell is a "decent hardworking man" and is "distraught" over being brought to court for his crimes.
He also told how it "added insult to injury" by being convicted after trial.
Powell "has learnt a very harsh lesson from this experience" and was "unlucky" that one image transgressed, Mr Douglas added.
The magistrates' bench sentenced Powell to a 12 month community order with 80 hours of unpaid work.
He was also ordered to pay court costs of £715.
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