A man who used blunt scissors to cut ducks' wings to stop them flying away has been banned from keeping birds for five years.
Jonathan Bowes was also fined £1,500 yesterday after he admitted eight charges, including two of causing unnecessary suffering to ducks.
Prosecutor Kevin McCole told Loughborough Magistrates' Court the investigation into Bowes started when wildlife officer Pc Neil Hughes bought two wigeon ducks from Bowes at Melton waterfowl market on April 12 last year, after a tip-off.
The officer took the birds to a vet, who said the adult ducks had fresh wounds and had their wings pinioned – cut to stop them flying away.
Mr McCole said Bowes, of Main Street, Knipton, near Melton, admitted he usually used a pair of blunt scissors to pinion ducks' wings and did not use an anaesthetic or consult a vet.
RSPCA video of an injured bird. WARNING: Some images on the video may cause distress"The vet said it's tantamount to a small finger being cut and being removed on a person's hand," said Mr McCole.
"It would cause unnecessary suffering to the bird."
The law states the procedure must only be carried out by a veterinary surgeon. Any bird pinioned after the age of 10 days old must be properly anaesthetised.
Bowes admitted two counts of pinioning wigeon ducks without anaesthetic.
Mr McCole also told the court Bowes took £10,000 a year off two men who came to shoot at his 500 ducks sitting on a rented lake at Wildberry Farm in Landyke Lane, Holwell.
On the day of the bird sale at Melton market, Bowes had eight wigeon and four tufted ducks available to buy.
He did not have documentation proving they were captive-bred birds and not wild birds.
Mr McCole said: "It is the prosecution's case these were wild birds."
Bowes pleaded guilty to three charges of selling, or offering for sale, wild birds, and one of using a spring trap to catch wild birds, as well as the two counts of causing unnecessary suffering.
Police officers executed a warrant at the site in Landyke Lane, Holwell, on May 14 last year. They found many birds with bleeding and injured wings after being pinioned.
Max Duddles, defending, said his client did not realise he was breaking the law.
During the search warrant, officers also discovered two spring traps which Bowes had been using to catch jackdaws which tried to nest in the duck nest boxes.
The traps are designed to kill rabbits humanely but it is illegal to use them to kill birds.
Bowes admitted the traps had caught some of his own birds in the nest boxes.
His ban has been suspended for 28 days while he makes alternative arrangements for birds still in his care.
Bowes was also ordered to pay £5,000 court costs.
