Canadian man convicted of animal cruelty for stealing Las Vegas flamingo

Analysis

A Canadian man was convicted of animal cruelty charges Monday for snatching a flamingo named Peachy from its enclosure at an iconic Las Vegas hotel.

Mitchell Fairbarn, 34, from Ontario, was found guilty on felony and misdemeanour counts after a jury deliberated for about five hours in Las Vegas Justice Court.

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"I thought it was something that we could joke about for the rest of our lives," Fairbarn said in court Friday, according to video footage posted by media outlets.

He faces up to four years in prison for the felony conviction and an additional six months for the misdemeanour. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for Dec. 1, and he remains under house arrest pending that date.

Prosecutors say act was malicious

Prosecutors said Fairbarn hurt and frightened the 27-year-old Chilean flamingo when he took it from its habitat at the Flamingo Las Vegas Hotel and Casino and carried the squawking bird to his room in the early morning hours of March 3.

Video played at the trial showed Fairbarn holding the flamingo by the neck in an elevator and carrying it down a hotel hallway.

Prosecutors told jurors that Fairbarn willfully caused the bird physical pain, noting feathers were found on the hotel floor. They said Peachy felt pain when it was pulled by its feet.

"Did you ever, at any time, have any malicious intent or desire?" his lawyer asked during testimony. "Did you intend to kill?"

Fairbarn shook his head and answered, "no."

Defence blames drunken foolishness

Defence attorney Joshua Tomsheck told jurors that his client deeply regretted the "bad decisions" he made while intoxicated and never meant to harm the bird, a key element in the felony charge.

"He should not have done that, should not have gone into the habitat, shouldn't have touched a bird, shouldn't have taken Peachy inside," Tomsheck said in court Monday. "The truth is, Mitch was drunk. Mitch was stupid. He made bad decisions."

Fairbarn testified that on the day of the incident, he drank "30 to 40" beers over 24 hours while in Las Vegas for ConExpo, an international construction exhibition.

He said he entered the flamingo habitat around 5 a.m. and took the bird as a drunken "silly pranky joke" after noticing it had uneven wings.

"I hope this sends a message to anybody else that wants to mess with our animals, that you're not going to do it in Nevada."

Investigators presented a different picture, with surveillance footage showing a shirtless Fairbarn handling the flamingo by its neck and legs. Police said photographs and video recovered from Fairbarn’s phone showed him aggressively choking the bird and throwing it to the floor.

Investigators said Fairbarn laughed in one clip, while saying he was "taking the bird home." A "large bloody feather" was later found in his hotel room.

Flamingo injured, now recovering

Animal control officials said Peachy suffered a wing injury that required stitches and testified that the wing had been pulled from the bird’s body.

The flamingo's treating veterinarian, Tiffany Moore, said Peachy had seven to eight missing feathers, broken feather shafts and blood loss consistent with trauma. She said the bird needed antibiotics, anti-inflammatories and weeks of pain medication.

Since the incident, the flamingo has been doing well physically but is more anxious and nervous when being evaluated, Moore said.

A spokesperson for Caesars Entertainment, which operates the hotel, said the company is grateful the matter was taken seriously.

"This was a deeply upsetting incident, and our focus remains on the care and well-being of the animals at the Flamingo Wildlife Habitat," the spokesperson said.

Nevada animal rights advocate John Waudby, who recently helped strengthen the state's animal cruelty laws, said he believes justice was delivered on Peachy's behalf.

"I hope this sends a message to anybody else that wants to mess with our animals, that you're not going to do it in Nevada," he said outside the courtroom after Monday's verdict.

Fairbarn also spoke about how his family has been affected by news of the incident, including break-ins, death threats and his children having to change schools.

Clark County prosecutor Haley Willming noted Fairbarn was unable to leave the U.S. when his father died while he was awaiting trial. "None of that would have happened had he not done what he did, had he not made the choices he made," she said.

The case is one of several recent animal cruelty incidents at Las Vegas casinos, including a woman charged after allegedly jumping into a fountain to grab a duckling and a teen accused of stabbing three horses at an equestrian centre.

Fairbarn is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 1.

With files from National Post, CBC News and Global News