by Danie M. Huffman
Nearly 100 birds and possibly more were confiscated Wednesday afternoon from a residence on West 7th Street.
Officials said the homeowner, known on the Internet as “The Bird Guy,” was “accumulating” finches, parrots, parakeets, African grays, cockatiels, cockatoos, doves, Macaw and Amazons.
Dianne Daniel, Weatherford-Parker County Animal Shelter director, said animal control officers had been watching John Christopher Dennett’s activities on Craig’s List, where he had been placing ads for more birds.
Daniel said officers were at Dennett’s home a few years ago, where he had a number of birds, but has acquired more since then.
“We knew we couldn’t let him get more,” Daniel said, adding some species were “very expensive.”
The animal shelter had to make room to house the birds and seized cages from two homes Dennett had on West 7th Street.
Authorities said Dennett will make a court appearance, where a judge will decide what is to happen with the birds.
It took about a dozen city and county officers from Weatherford Police, the Parker County Sheriff’s Office, code compliance officers, animal control officers and Weatherford Fire department nearly two hours to seize the birds and load them into two trailers and two pickup trucks.
Daniel said each of the cages would be steam cleaned and the birds will be cared for. She added Dennett will be cited for animal neglect. Another officer stated he would also be cited for unsanitary conditions.
Officials said Dennett’s housing conditions could be described as “unlivable and filthy.”
Daniel said some of the birds were kept in cages, while others were allowed to roam in every room of the house where feces was found including in the bathrooms, bedrooms and kitchen.
Some officers had to use masks when entering the home.
Daniel said after serving the warrant, it was the largest bird seizure she has ever seen.
Weatherford Police officials said Dennett will be issued at least five citations for unlawful accumulation, failure to display house numbers and high grass and weeds in addition to the animal neglect charges.
Weatherford Police Lt. Chris Crawford said after visiting Dennett’s homes Wednesday, two cases against him for junk cars and possible substandard structures would be initiated.
Killing Parrots Softly
It’s one of those sickening “WTF are we doing to these amazing creatures?” Videos.
Fred and Ginger at Birds of Paradise Sanctuary
January 15, 2009
More reasons to hate people:
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Noise from three birds at a Port St. Lucie home apparently became too much for one man.
Joseph Pacheco is accused of going onto his neighbor’s property Monday and spraying chemicals on a handful of birds.
Homeowner Ed Santos said Hannah, Red and Sam are beautiful, expensive birds.
The three are temporarily being cared for at the Avian and Exotic Clinic of Palm City. He said Red has tremors after what happened.
The trio was on the patio of their home in Port St. Lucie when, according to police, their neighbor Pacheco came into the yard.
“My daughter was inside, called me on the phone, crying screaming hysterically, ‘the neighbor is killing the birds, the neighbor is killing the birds,’” said Santos.
Santos went around to the back of his home and said he saw someone spraying something through a hole in his patio screen.
A police officer called to the scene had Pacheco show him the spray bottle. Inside was Roundup, a weed killer.
Dr. April Romagnano has been dealing with bird emergencies for 25 years, but weed killer is a first.
“It changes the surface tension of the respiratory membranes so it makes it very difficult for you to breathe,” said Dr. Romagnano.
She thinks the birds will make it, but right now Hannah is on oxygen. The vet bills for the Santos family are already at $1,500 and are expected to rise.
Santos says Animal Control and police had been to the home before over noise complaints and he had worked things out with them.
He also said he tried working things out with his neighbor Pacheco by giving him his cell phone and telling him to call whenever there was a problem.
“Now my wife wants to move. The kids say, ‘Daddy is he going to hurt us?’” said Santos.
The Santos family has only lived in the home for 10 months, but now they’re trying to figure out if they want to live there any longer.
Efforts to contact Pacheco but were unsuccessful. Pacheco faces charges of burglary and animal cruelty.
Read more: http://www.wptv.com//dpp/news/region_st_lucie_county/port_st_lucie/parrots-sprayed-with-weed-killer-one-man-faces-charges#ixzz1v3qdRvtY
A blog for bird lovers and enthusiasts.
Also occasional Harry Potter, MLP, anime, Inspirational, cute, doodles, and lulz reposts.
