A sadistic badger baiter filmed his dogs violently tearing wild animals apart in sickening home videos.
Callum Muir has been described as Scotland’s “worst ever” badger baiter and used three dogs to fight animals like badgers and foxes.
This usually led to the wild animals dying in agony after desperately fighting for their lives.
Now the 25-year-old has been jailed for six months after police uncovered videos of himself laughing as his dogs slaughtered animals, The Daily Record reported .
However animal rights campaigners said they had hoped he would have faced a much longer sentence.
Muir recorded “ trophy ” videos capturing the sickening attacks for him to rewatch.
In them, he can be heard encouraging his dogs to attack as the wild animals scream in pain.
In another, he is said to have laughed as a fox’s skin is ripped away from its body and they are torn in half by his dogs.
A third shows him laughing as the dogs attack a fox whilst an accomplice stamps on its head.
His own dogs - terrier Pip, lurcher Bella and bull lurcher Mig - also suffered terrible injuries during the savage attacks and he refused to get them any help from the vet.
At Ayr Sheriff Court, Muir was given just six months but Sheriff Siobhan Connelly said that his crimes were at the most serious end of the spectrum.
She admitted he could have faced a far longer sentence if the Crown had decided to take the case to a higher court.
Slapping the urban hunter with a lifetime ban for keeping animals, the sheriff said: “The evidence of veterinary surgeons was that the dogs had injuries consistent with animal fights and they would have suffered considerably as a result.
“The other animals would have suffered violent and traumatic deaths. You must have known the harm and pain and suffering being caused to these animals."
The maximum sentence at summary level is 12 months and the sheriff said she would have given him nine months, taking into account his age, if he had not tendered a guilty plea.
Evidence showed at least nine incidents of animals being forced to fight over six months.
An inspector from SSPCA’s Special Investigations Unit said they hoped for a far more severe sentence.
He said: “Given the sheer level of suffering endured by Muir’s dogs, countless wild animals and the depravity of the videos and images he owned, we are disappointed he has not received a longer jail sentence.
“New legislation has now come into effect which means offenders can receive up to five year sentences for animal welfare crimes.
“We’ve been involved in thousands of criminal cases and this ranks up there as one of the worst.”
The inspector, who has worked on hundreds of cases, said Muir’s catalogue of “trophy” videos and photographs was the worst he’d encountered.
The inspector said: “The evidence we found at Mr. Muir’s home address was consistent with what you’d typically find when someone is heavily involved in animal fighting.
All three of his dogs had significant injuries across their faces. Pip and Bella, the two older dogs, had injuries across their neck and legs.
Both dogs had several missing teeth as a result of the fights they’d been in, and the lack of appropriate veterinary treatment would have made the suffering even worse but all three dogs have since been rehomed.
In April last year, the Scottish SPCA were tipped off to Muir using his dogs to savagely attack and kill animals.
The three dogs were seized and found to have injuries which suggested they had been involved in fights.
At the property, there was evidence he was self-treating their wounds, something common amongst people involved in animal fighting.
There were also several items associated with the sick practice like locator collars used to track dogs underground in badger setts.
If anyone is concerned about an animal, they can contact the Scottish SPCA’s confidential animal helpline on 03000 999 999.
