A GRANDFATHER has admitted to plucking a chicken from its enclosure while visiting a Hunter wildlife park and tossing it to a "hungry alligator".
Peter William Smith backflipped on his decision to fight one charge of aggravated animal cruelty, instead pleading guilty on the day of his three-hour hearing in Raymond Terrace Local Court on Tuesday.
A set of agreed facts tendered to the court revealed the 58-year-old was visiting Oakvale Wildlife Park at Salt Ash on the afternoon of January 2 when he reached into a concrete enclosure and grabbed a white Chinese Silkie Bantam hen.
He stuffed her into his button-up shirt and walked to the alligator enclosure, where he pulled her out and threw her over the fence.
The two 2.4-metre alligators immediately hunted the chicken, with one of them "snapping the chook into its mouth, killing it immediately".
Smith stood and watched the incident unfold. Visitors were quick to alert staff and the ordeal was captured on CCTV.
The Hunter View grandfather was charged at Singleton Police Station two days later.
He told officers he had the "intention of feeding the alligator due to its living conditions" and was "really disappointed" in himself.
Defence lawyer Bryan Wrench, known as Sydney's 'solicitor to the stars', was called out in court on Tuesday for his flippant remarks about the case.
Mr Wrench said Smith had no criminal history and "fed a chook to a hungry alligator" while visting the wildlife park.
He made a quip about never smiling at a crocodile, or in this case an alligator.
"I'm not sure making light of the situation is the most appropriate approach, Mr Wrench," magistrate Kirralee Perry said.
Mr Wrench replied that Smith was ashamed of his actions, but Ms Perry said she was referring to the lawyer's comments in court.
The maximum penalty for committing an act of aggravated cruelty upon an animal is up to two years in jail.
"Certainly nothing to be made fun of then," Ms Perry said.
Mr Wrench said it was an unusual case and he was trying to put the circumstances into "context".
He had previously told the court that Smith's actions were something viewers might see in a David Attenborough documentary, or how a chicken might be prepared for a KFC meal.
Julia Davies, a chicken hobbyist who has more than 6000 followers on her JD's Backyard Hens Facebook page, travelled from Medowie to watch the proceedings unfold on September 24.
"Someone has got to be there to represent the chicken," she told reporters outside court.
"A chicken is more than just a dinner plate, they are actually someone's pet."
She said chickens used for food were humanely dispatched, but what Smith had done was cruel.
"Children would have been watching that ... it's gut-wrenching when you hear a chook in distress," Ms Davies said.
Smith will undergo a sentencing assessment report and face Raymond Terrace Local Court to find out his fate on November 20.
Oakvale Wildlife Park handlers remembered hand-raised Betty White after her death as a friendly, "great chook" who was a golden girl of the organisation's foster mother program for endangered Bush Stone Curlew chicks.
