An elderly pensioner known as the "Birdman" who once supplied a cockatoo for supermodel MeganGale's fashion shoot has been convicted and fined $10,000 on multiple RSPCA mistreatment charges.
A magistrate who saw photos of injured birds and of ferrets housed in filthy cages among rotting food and dirty water said they made him "want to go off the bench and throw up".
The magistrate Tim Walsh could not think of words to describe the images and said that "disgusting and inhumane do not do justice (to) conditions that beggar belief".
Melbourne Magistrates Court heard on Thursday that 71-year-old Umberto Di Filippo - who was fined $14,000 in 2012 on charges of docking dogs' tails - was an animal lover whose "heart was in the right place" but that mental health issues "compromised" his care of the creatures.
Mr Walsh was told Di Filippo's Campbellfield property was searched in July last year during a multi-taskforce raid that found more than 130 birds of different breeds.
RSPCA prosecutor Daniel Bode said cages used for the birds were "mostly filthy and displayed a build-up of excrement and old discarded foodstuffs", with food containers left in many cages that held "old, rotting seed".
"Many cages were stacked on top of one another and several were overcrowded with birds," Mr Bode said. "Birds did not have access to clean water. One cockatoo was observed to be in a cage with no shelter and no clean drinking water."
He told the court a number of animals had significant health problems and were assessed by Dr Ruth Barrett at the RSPCA who found quails with injuries consistent with bullying.
She saw four sulphur crested cockatoos with generalised feather loss, poor feather condition, a dirty appearance to the feathers and abnormally black shiny beaks that were diagnosed as having a contagious viral infection.
One bird had injuries consistent with having hit its wings on the sides of the cage, a medical problem, stress, boredom or a nutritional issue while a crimson rosella had a broken tail and wing feathers "presumably from repeatedly hitting the wire of the cage", Mr Bode said.
When interviewed, Di Filippo said he fed the birds and provided water every day, but stated he suffered from stress and mental health issues and "that was why the animals were not properly looked after".
Defence solicitor Natasha Stewart said that for her client, a divorced grandfather and former welder and boilermaker, breeding birds was a lifetime hobby from which he had "accrued a vast amount of knowledge on their care and management".
Ms Stewart said Di Filippo had once provided a bird used in a TV advertisement for Rosella tomato sauce and in 2002 was involved in "orchestrating the incorporation" of a cockatoo in a fashion shoot with Megan Gale from which he "derived a great sense of personal satisfaction".
She said that he was "not a cruel person" or had a callous disregard for animals, but had instead "buried his head in the sand" when he lacked the energy and "mental capacity to keep the birds in proper working order".
Ms Stewart said Di Filippo's long standing mental health issues "impeded his capacity to properly look after the birds" but he had the "purest intentions towards them".
With Mr Walsh having the power to ban him from being in charge of an animal, she submitted that without birds he would be "hopeless and lost and very alone in the world" because they were a "great source of comfort and joy and he thrives in their unique company".
Di Filippo pleaded guilty to eight charges that included one of aggravated cruelty and others of housing an animal in filthy conditions and of failing to provide veterinary treatment.
Mr Walsh, who also ordered Di Filippo to pay $351 costs, disqualified him from being in charge of more than five birds for 10 years.
Di Filippo later lodged appeals against his conviction and sentence.