Bruce Berry was found guilty of a string of wildlife protection crimes

Bruce Berry, 63, was convicted in September, after being exposed in an undercover BBC documentary.

A jury at Southampton Crown Court heard how he sold and displayed endangered birds illegally and stole a falcon.

A BBC investigation in June 2003 also revealed mistreatment of birds at his New Forest Owl Sanctuary in Ringwood.

Berry was ordered to pay �5,000 costs for both the defence and the prosecution and was given the maximum length of community service at a hearing on Wednesday.

As a bird lover, I was sickened by some of the secret filming Chris Packham, BBC Inside Out Click to watch Inside Out with Real Player

He was given 80 hours for the theft of the saker falcon and 80 hours, to run consecutively, for selling two marsh harriers without a licence, one of which died.

He was also given 80 hours, to run concurrently, for selling a tawny owl for �80 without a licence.

He was also sentenced to 80 hours consecutive for displaying tawny owl chicks without a licence and 80 hours concurrent for displaying tortoises without a licence.

Sentencing, Judge David Griffiths said: "Persons like yourself, who are a director of an owl sanctuary, must realise that ignoring these regulations for profit or convenience will be taken seriously by the courts."

The court heard that Berry ordered staff not to try to find the falcon's owner when it was handed in to the sanctuary after being found by a member of the public.

The Inside Out programme was very useful and I thank the BBC Pc Geoff Culbertson

Pc Geoff Culbertson, who led the investigation as head of wildlife protection at Hampshire police, told BBC News Online: "We are very happy with the penalties imposed - we couldn't have expected much more.

"Any offenders in this line of business must realise that the police will prosecute them successfully, as we have done today, however difficult it is.

"The Inside Out programme was very useful in reinvigorating the police investigation and I thank the BBC for that."

At his trial, Berry, who pleaded not guilty, was convicted of a total of five counts, but cleared of releasing barn owl chicks into the wild and using false documents to obtain licences.

The New Forest Owl Sanctuary closed in July 2003 and has since reopened under new ownership.

Chris Packham, presenter of the Inside Out South programme that carried out the investigation, said at the time: "As a bird lover, I was sickened by some of the secret filming.

"This is supposed to be a sanctuary, a safe haven, but we know that they have killed healthy birds."

Berry, who lives with his partner and their 14-month-old son and four-year-old daughter, had denied the allegations, saying the sanctuary passed zoo inspections.