African grey parrot -- NOT Mikey. (AP)
A New Jersey man shot the family's 20 year-old African grey parrot, Mikey, for annoying him while he was watching a NASCAR race on television. Guess who called the cops on him? His wife! She was upstairs when she heard three shots, came running downstairs, saw what her husband had done, called him a "crazy S.O.B.," then called the police, reports the Daily Record.
The man, 67 year-old Dennis Zeglin, used a BB gun to shoot Mikey on June 7, while the parrot was imprisoned in its cage. Zeglin was arrested and charged with animal cruelty.
The man's defense? He was drunk.
"The parrot was probably doing what parrots do — squawking and making a ruckus. But this was probably less about what the parrot was doing than Mr. Zeglin's alcohol problem," Zeglin's defense attorney Stephen Fletcher told the Daily Record. Fletcher says his client has gotten counseling for alcoholism and is seeking entry into the court's pre-trial intervention program, which, if he completes successfully, would result in the charges being dismissed and Zeglin maintaining a clean record, reports the New Jersey Star-Ledger.
Bird lovers such as Lisa are outraged. "To hear that someone maliciously murdered his family's African grey parrot -- knowing what I would do for mine -- hit too close to home," she says. Lisa has started a letter writing campaign "to make sure Mikey has a voice." African grey parrots, Lisa says, are "extremely intelligent, thoughtful, sentient and sensitive beings." "We need to have stronger punishment in place for people who torture, harm, abuse or kill animals," she says.
According to the Daily Record, a hearing is scheduled for September 9 in Superior Court in Morristown, New Jersey.
Comments
If I'd been his wife, I'd have done the same thing.
Anyone wishing to voice their concerns please respond with a quick email to theplatinumparrot@verizon.net. They will be delivered to Kelly Lavery, the prosecutor handling the case. Zeglin's court date is Sept 9th so it must be done quickly.
THIS MAN NEEDS TO UNDERSTAND WHAT HE DID WAS WRONG AND SOUNDS LIKE TO ME HE DOES NOT EVEN FEEL REMORSE. HOW APPALING! HIS WIFE DID THE RIGHT THING BUT SEEMS LIKE HE IS GETTING AWAY WITH THIS WITH A SLAP ON THE WRIST. NO NO NO ANIMALS HAVE FEELINGS AND HAVE SOULS AND THEY ARE AS MUCH GOD;S CREATURES AS WE ARE.
How can someone be so cruel to shoot a bird........what a jerk
If I was his wife I would tell him if I were you I would sleep with one eye open.
If he wanted the bird dead he should have taken it to the local humane society and paid them to do it. Then it would have been tottally legal.
there has to be a voice for the helpless and vulnerable. harsher punishments are needed for actions such as this. animals suffer too much at the hands of the species at the "top of the food chain".
Poor parrot. But the way the article is written, the absurdity of the whole thing. Totally hilarious!!! LOL!!! Love your work Helena!
Parrots, parrakets and other tropical birds people buy and keep as "pets" are wild animals. They have not been domesticated like cats and dogs. Keeping a parrot in a cage (and often without any other birds for companionship) is equivalent to capturing a sparrow or robin red breast and sticking them in a cage.
Birds who have been born and bred into the pet trade still have all their wild instincts, just as if they were captured in the jungle and brought over in a suitcase. There is a reason they squawk so loudly: they are trying to communicate with other members of their species in a jungle! It is this very squawking that makes many of these birds' "owners" neglect, abuse, or abandon them. Please don't support this cruel trade: refuse to buy birds as pets. If you really feel you have done your homework and can provide a bird(s) a good home, (out of a cage much of the time) adopt them from a rescue group. There are SO many in need of adoption, just like dogs and cats.
What a lame excuse. He has a drinking problem. If he beat his wife and kids he is still guilty whether he is drunk or not. If he drives a car and kills someone while drunk, he is still guilty. So he killed the pet bird, and he should get off because he had a drinking problem ? Screw that. He should be punished.
I hope they lock him up and throw away the key. What a jerk! I had a father much like that; and those jerks don't deserve oxygen...
I would have turned in my hubby, too! How cruel! He shot him WITH A BB GUN!!! How awful!
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