Man shoots and kills pet parrot for ‘being annoying’ – charged with animal cruelty
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.
Randolph man who shot pet parrot to undergo psych test
http://www.dailyrecord.com/article/20090910/COMMUNITIES/90909036/1005/NEWS01
The Morris County Prosecutor’s Office wants a Randolph man psychologically evaluated before it decides how to handle charges that he shot his pet African grey parrot with a BB gun because the creature’s squawking annoyed him while he watched a NASCAR race.
Defendant Dennis Zeglin, 67, appeared in Superior Court, Morristown, Wednesday, with his wife and defense attorney Stephen Fletcher. While the animal cruelty charges filed against Zeglin in June were marked for possible review by a county grand jury, Fletcher said the prosecutor’s office has advised him it wants a psychiatric evaluation before deciding how the case should be disposed.
Zeglin has applied for admission into the county’s Pre-Trial Intervention program. PTI is a probation program for first-time offenders, under which criminal charges are dismissed if a defendant completes a period of probation and other conditions.
According to court records, Zeglin fatally shot “Mikey,” a pet parrot in his household for the past 20 years, because the creature annoyed him while he watched a NASCAR race on June 7 at his home in Randolph.
Zeglin’s alarmed wife summoned police to the house. Zeglin was sitting in a living room chair when they arrived and he handed over a Daisy Powerline Model 93, CO2-powered BB gun he admitted using to kill Mikey, court records said.
Fletcher said his client was intoxicated at the time, and after the incident was brought to Morristown Memorial Hospital to be treated for a combination of alcohol “and potential mental health issues.” He later spent several days at Summit Oaks in Summit and now is receiving treatment for substance abuse, Fletcher said.
“He’s been in a program for alcohol abuse and he’s working that program diligently,” Fletcher said.
[b]wikipedia : African Grey Parrot
