This bird has a guilty mind.
A drunken Canadian tourist who stole a beloved flamingo from a Las Vegas casino and photographed it with his hands around its neck was found guilty of animal cruelty on Monday.
A jury found 34-year-old Mitchell Fairbarn guilty of avian neglect after he stole the “Peachy” from the Flamingo Hotel and Casino during a rave in Sin City on March 3, Fox 5 Vegas reported.
Fairborn, a married father of three from central Ontario, testified in court that he was drunk while working a construction job in Las Vegas.
He said he drank “30 to 40” glasses of wine while walking on the Las Vegas Strip before encountering a flamingo colony around 5 a.m. the next morning.
Fairborn told the court the bird was snatched and taken to his room as a “silly joke”. Video evidence shown in court showed him laughing and grabbing the poor bird’s neck.
“I think this is something we can joke about for the rest of our lives,” Fairbarn told the court, 8 News Now reported.
But despite Fairbairn’s claims of being light-hearted, Peach was discovered injured by a facility engineer at the hotel, according to testimony.
In court, Fairbarn, who has pleaded not guilty ahead of trial, admitted the bird was injured and said “I’m taking responsibility” but added he didn’t know how the bird’s feathers came to be missing.
Defense attorney Joshua Tomshek even called his client an “idiot” but denied he intended to do anything malicious.
“If he wanted to kill Peach, Peach would be dead,” Tomshek said.
After five hours of deliberations, the damn bird thief was found guilty of one felony count and one misdemeanor count of animal cruelty, the outlet reported.
Fairbarn is due back in court on December 3 for sentencing.