Tom Quach, 60, allegedly stuffed the animal in his backpack and rode a stolen bike to his unit in Sydney’s eastern suburbs before decapitating the bird and hanging it up on Tuesday.
The Vietnamese national was confused about whether the birds, known affectionately as bin chickens, could be eaten in NSW, his lawyer said.
Quach was charged with animal cruelty and stolen goods offences, and remanded in custody overnight before being released on Wednesday morning with strict conditions.
“Ibis are not to be caught, not to be killed and not to be eaten,” Magistrate Ross Hudson told Quach in Waverley Local Court on Wednesday.
“Touching any bird or attempting to capture any bird is a breach, is that clear?
Quach nodded in agreement.
It’s the second time in as many months he has been charged for attacking an ibis.
He was arrested and charged on March 31 after allegedly tying a rope around the feet and neck of an ibis outside Eastwood railway station.
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Onlookers intervened before the man could leave with the bird.
Quach, who has been diagnosed with PTSD and bipolar disorder, spent weeks at a mental health institute after the March incident and was released days before reoffending.
He has been ordered to stay away from all Australian birdlife and will have to report to police twice a week.
Outside court, he said he would be staying away from the native birds but had been confused about the NSW laws.
“In Queensland, I was able to eat them,” he said.
He is set to enter a plea on June 8.
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