Since 2015, the charity said there has been over thirty cases of "decorated" birds found dead or with injuries severe enough to require euthanasia.
On Tuesday, SPCA officers were called to a house in Kilbirnie, a suburb of the capital Wellington, where they rescued several birds covered in decorations and paint. The birds were in a distressed but otherwise healthy condition.
"One pigeon had quite bright red Christmas tinsel wrapped around its wings and then the top of its head had been painted with red paint as well as its wings had been tipped with red paint," Gilchrist said.
While charges have yet to be laid against the owners of the house, Gilchrist said the case "remains an ongoing investigation."
this has been happening since 2015?? what the heck is going on? i hope they get to the bottom of this...that's just terrible and cruel.
Last edited by tttaylorrr; 01-10-2019 at 05:20 PM.
This almost sounds like something either a child or a person with a severe mental illness like downs syndrome (or another illness that affects cognition) might do...i.e. "make the birds look pretty for the holidays" etc.. I think if someone had outright malicious intent, the birds might be tortured or something besides tying tinsel on them. Sad situation for sure.
This almost sounds like something either a child or a person with a severe mental illness like downs syndrome (or another illness that affects cognition) might do...i.e. "make the birds look pretty for the holidays" etc.. I think if someone had outright malicious intent, the birds might be tortured or something besides tying tinsel on them. Sad situation for sure.
Except that a child or mentally-challenged adult is unlikely to have the skills necessary to do this, especially to so many. And they tend to have others looking out for
them to keep them out of trouble. (Many years ago, I worked with mentally-challenged adults as a part-time job while I was going to college.)
Can't rule out an adult with a mental-problem though, as it does seem to be an obsession with holiday decor...?
Last edited by Bogertophis; 01-10-2019 at 05:47 PM.