A man who stole a flamingo named Peachy in Las Vegas could be sentenced to as many as four years in prison after being found guilty of animal cruelty.
Prosecutors said that Canadian tourist Mitchell Fairbarn hurt and frightened the flamingo when he entered its habitat at the Flamingo Las Vegas Hotel and Casino on 3 March and seized it, carrying the bird to his room.
CCTV footage showed Fairbarn of carrying the flamingo around by the neck, while a court heard that when the bird was recovered it had lost several feathers and had blood on it.
The 34-year-old said he thought it would be ‘funny’ to steal the flamingo, and testified that he’d drunk between 30 and 40 beers before he grabbed the animal and took it with him.
His legal representatives said he’d meant it all as a harmless prank and alcohol was to blame for his ‘bad decisions’.
Mitchell Fairbarn has been found guilty of animal cruelty after stealing a flamingo in Las Vegas (LVMPD)
“He should not have done that, should not have gone into the habitat, shouldn’t have touched a bird, shouldn’t have taken Peachy inside,” Fairbarn’s lawyer Joshua Tomsheck said, CBS reports.
“The truth is, Mitch was drunk. Mitch was stupid. He made bad decisions.”
Having been found guilty of felony and misdemeanour animal cruelty he faces up to four years for the felony animal cruelty conviction and another six months for the misdemeanour.
He’s had to stay in the US under house arrest in Las Vegas, with a hearing scheduled for 1 December.
The man had entered the flamingo enclosure at around 5pm on 3 March thinking it would be a ‘silly joke’ for his friends, having Peachy in his possession for around 15 minutes.
The flamingo spent weeks needing pain medication afterwards (NBC)
His friends testified in the trial that they’d been asleep in their hotel room and woke up to the flamingo in there before they put the bird out in the hallway.
Peachy, 27, was found by a member of hotel staff who used a towel to herd the bird into a corner.
The staff member said that Peachy was shaking and bleeding by the time they were found, and for weeks afterwards was on antibiotics, anti-inflammatories and pain medication after suffering injuries a vet described as being consistent with trauma.
The jury took five hours of deliberations to return their guilty verdict and convict Fairbarn of of the offences that could end up landing him behind bars for several years.
A vet said that the flamingo has mostly recovered from the ordeal but is now noticeably more anxious around people.
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