A falcon used to keep Feral Pigeons away from the Scottish Parliament building was shot by a pigeon fancier.
Dunfermeline Sheriff Courtheard that racing pigeon keeper Andrew Hutchison shot the Peregrine/Gyrfalcon hybrid, then removed its radio transmitter, stuffed the bird into a bin bag and drove off.
The two-year-old bird, called Naph, was one of 25 birds of prey used to prevent pigeons defecating on the building at Holyrood.
On April 3 this year, Naph was being exercised at a football complex at Torryburn, Fife, when he was caught by a gust of wind.
He was last seen alive in a tree above the Hutchison’s garden, 200 yards away.
When Naph’s minders went to find him, Hutchison, 67, confessed he had shot him.
Mark Bonham, one of the men who confronted Hutchison, said: "We asked him why he shot it and he said it was going for his pigeons."
Hutchison, of Newmills, Fife, was found guilty of maliciously shooting and killing a working falcon with a .22 air rifle.
He was also found guilty of removing the body of the bird from his garden, separating it from its radio transmitter and dumping its body and the transmitter with intent to defeat the ends of justice.
Sheriff Craig McSherry deferred sentence for background reports until January 18.
