A 29-year-old man from The Hague was given 80 hours of community service on Tuesday for threatening a vet.

The man was annoyed when the vet put his girlfriend’s rabbit to sleep. He phoned the vet and threatened to ‘stamp your kneecaps to smithereens’.

A few days later, he stormed into the surgery carrying two guns and demanding an explanation for the demise of the animal.

The police were called and arrested the man.

He told the court he was on his way to the police station to hand in the guns – a gas pistol and a gas revolver, neither of which can fire bullets – when he passed the vet’s.