Jeff Hide, of Knights Solicitors, who represent the National Council for Aviculture and the British Bird Council, said the sentence passed on Harry Sissen reflected the Government’s’ stance on wildlife crime.

He said that although Harry Sissen has a right of appeal, he cannot appeal against the jury s verdict, only against the size of the sentence or if it was felt that the judge’s summing up misled the jury on a point of law.

Appeals are heard in the High Court in London, and consent has to be given for an appeal to go before the House of Lords on a point of law or point of public importance.

However, Jeff Hide also said that prisoners on full parole are currently serving as little as one third of their sentence, which would mean the sentence could be reduced to ten months.

The investigation into the Sissen case cost an estimated £1 million and provoked strong words of condemnation from the ranks for bird keepers and people who knew Harry for his work with endangered species.

As a result of these views published in Cage & Aviary Birds, a spokesman for Customs & Excise said: "We have no wish to co-operate with a publication that caused a great deal of grief and upset to officers involved in the investigation at the time of the raids on Mr Sissen. We are unable to provide any information, either now or in the future."

It is believed that the birds relating to the charges brought by Customs & Excise, namely three Lear’s macaws and six blue-headed macaws, are to be taken to the country where the species is native and released into the wild or used as part of a controlled breeding programme.

Ironically, one of Harry s most heartfelt wishes was that his outstanding breeding success with endangered parrots over 35 years would lead to numbers of young birds bred by him being released into the wild to ensure the survival of the species.

Speaking before the case, he said this was the ultimate aim of much of his breeding work, and the one thing that would give him most pleasure.