An MP has called for an under-threat aviary to be kept open but the local council and animal welfare groups have described it as "inhumane" and say it should be closed.

Sefton Council decided last month to shut the 90-year-old Botanic Gardens in Churchtown, Southport, which costs the authority about £60,000 a year to run, in March.

Following a public meeting on Wednesday, Southport MP Patrick Hurley said the positive influence the aviary has on people's mental health should not be underestimated and it might be "false economy" to close.

However, council leader Marion Atkinson said the facility was "no longer in the best interests of the animals" and animal welfare experts supported the closure.

The aviary is home to 170 birds and small animals.

Hurley told BBC Radio Merseyside the aviary and its gardens are "really loved" by the community and the closure was a health and well-being issue.

"So many people have said the aviary has really helped them with their mental health," he said.

"If we close it is there going to be an upstream issue around budgets in adult social care?

"Is there going to be an upstream issue around mental health provision and it might actually be a false economy by closing this.

"You might you might see that you know you squeeze the balloon in one area and the air comes out somewhere else."

Hurley comments after the public meeting was attended by about 200 people.

Atkinson has previously said the decision to close the aviary was not about money but taken because such enclosures were "unnatural" and "inhumane".

She said: "Nobody is calling into question the care and kindness shown by staff and volunteers to these birds over the decades but the fact remains this facility is simply no longer in the best interests of the animals who are kept there."

People from the Ethical Treatment of Animals group and international wildlife charity Born Free are among those backing the closure.

Dr Carys Bennett, of PETA, said it "applauds" the council's decision.

"Birds are not ornaments to be displayed.

"Confining them with little stimulation does not respect animals' best interests, or meet their social, psychological or physical needs."

Leading veterinary surgeon Dr Emma Milne said keeping birds in aviaries, was "fundamentally wrong".

"Caging birds and restricting flight and social needs can't be justified unless for clinical need. Add to this the exposure to people and the stress that may cause, and it's easy to stand behind any initiative that seeks to close these establishments," she said.