Pet Cockatoo Dies In Hot Car While Owner Enjoys A Movie

[matcom]

<snip>

It's not clear whether a 25-year-old bird owner enjoyed the movie she watched Saturday in Fredericksburg.

But it is clear, police said, that her pet cockatoo didn't enjoy waiting for her to watch it.

The bird died after being left in a hot car outside Regal Cinemas in Central Park, police spokesman Jim Shelhorse said.

The owner, Donia Monique Brooks of Stafford, was charged with cruelty to animals, a Class 1 misdemeanor that carries a potential 12-month jail sentence.

According to Shelhorse, moviegoers spotted the bird in distress as they were going into the theater. They told an employee, who came outside, saw the bird and called police about 5:20 p.m.

When an officer arrived, Shelhorse said, the cockatoo was lying in a cage in the back seat. The officer quickly got the car door open, but the bird was already dead.

Shelhorse said the temperature at the time was 90 degrees and the heat index was 97. The windows in the car were all rolled up except for the driver's window, which was open about an inch.

The owner returned to her car shortly after 6 p.m. and acknowledged that it was her bird, Shelhorse said. She was given a summons and released.

http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2006/072006/07252006/208843

[XNASA]

1. There's nothing sadder.....

Than a limp cockatoo. :cry:

[otherlander]

4. Except for drowning puppies....

but there would have to be a lot of them.

[_testify_]

2. That's some ridiculous writing.

It's not clear whether a 25-year-old bird owner enjoyed the movie she watched Saturday in Fredericksburg.

But it is clear, police said, that her pet cockatoo didn't enjoy waiting for her to watch it.

[Oeditpus Rex]

5. It's not ridiculous, it's just plain bad

A copy editor should've changed that. :grr:

Funny how this kind of shit happens in newspapers with "Free Lance" in the name.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

3. Things like this happen every summer...

Sometimes even to people's children. I don't understand how people can continue to be so ignorant...

[Deja Q]

6. Cockatoos are friggin' EXPENSIVE. I'd love to have a Cockatoo.

:(

It may come from a tropical area, but what happened is outright CRUELTY.

And not to make it sound like doing that to dogs is justified (it isn't), but birds are nowhere near as plentiful or as precious.

[Midlodemocrat]

7. Why must you disparage Virginia every chance you get?

:P

[matcom]

8. because obviously

you are all inbread rednecks down there obsessed with country music, NASCAR and capri pants :D

:hide:

[Midlodemocrat]

9. Right..... and you massholes are superior in every way.

:eyes:

Let's not forget who was born and bred in CT and who was born and bred in MD, shall we? Not that there's anything wrong with that.

[matcom]

14. WE are the country's ELITE!

doesn't matter where you were born. as soon as you live here for 1 month your intelligence and IQ SOAR to the top of the charts. we are superior to EVERYONE else and frankly, you should thank us for it.

It is the state of Massachusetts that keeps the country balanced. if we were to break off, the country would flip over completely and you (and everyone else) would fall through a hole in the earth and end up in China.

its a known fact (at least up here) :P

[Midlodemocrat]

15. Sure, sure. It's easy to put a Kerry sticker on a car in Mass.

Without us down here, you guys wouldn't have anyone to feel superior to. So, you should THANK ALL OF US for doing your dirtywork and frankly, allowing you to THINK you are superior.


:hide:

[LostinVA]

11. That's North Carolina

:spank: :spank: :spank:

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

10. This is VILE-- As someone who lives with a parrot

this person should be put in jail. :grr:

[pitohui]

12. a bird in a hot car can die in 30 minutes

we need to get the word out, "bird talk" readers know this, but too many people apparently buy a pet and never pick up any literature on how to care for the pet

please, people, if you are going to spend $800 for a bird, go ahead and spend $4 for a magazine or $8 for a book so you will understand

this lady probably believed that since cockatoos come from the dry hot areas of australia, it would be fine in the car, not so, nor is it true for any other bird

the longest i leave my birds alone in the car is five minutes to use the restroom at the gas station while evacuating, in any time when i am traveling with birds by choice there is ALWAYS a second traveler with me to keep the windows open and baby-sit the birds and protect from heat, cold, strangers, whatever

my husband has a temperature gauge in his car, w. windows closed, it has been getting up to 160 degrees F in the car

a bird can be cooked and safe for eating by the end of a two hour movie at that temperature!

[idgiehkt]

13. I'm just so glad she got a summons for it.

What a stupid, stupid woman. That makes me really sick.