'It’s kind of serious stuff,' Vegas hotel tells 911 after Canadian man's alleged flamingo theft
Security at a Las Vegas Strip casino hotel waited more than two hours for police to arrive and arrest a Canadian tourist who entered its flamingo habitat and bird-napped one of the “beloved” animals , according to 911 recordings.
The 33-year-old from Ontario was arrested on March 3 at Flamingo Las Vegas, a 28-storey complex run by Caesars Entertainment, and has been charged with four felony counts of animal abuse after allegedly injuring several of the pink birds and taking one back to his hotel room following a night of drinking.
Meanwhile, a judge has ordered the man to remain in Las Vegas until the matter is resolved in court, as reported by 8 News Now.
Calls to police obtained by the outlet and FOX5 and indicate the first went out just before 6 a.m.
The security guard tells the dispatcher they were notified of a man carrying a flamingo through a 14th-floor hallway.
“We went out to the habitat, and we were missing one, and two were seriously injured, in fact, one may not make it. Surveillance caught him jumping the fence.”
The footage, later reviewed by police, shows a shirtless man hopping the enclosure’s fence, injuring two birds in the process, before grabbing another bird by its long legs, pulling it to the ground, where he pinned it to prevent it from escaping. He then took the bird, named Peachy, back to his room.
Security personnel, who had already detained the man, told police the man spent roughly eight minutes inside the habitat, which is home to five other birds named Blackjack, Bugsy, Pitbull, Omega and Bubbalicious.
“He stole one of the flamingo birds,” a resort security supervisor told 911 in a follow-up call at 8 a.m. to ask when police would respond. “It’s kind of serious stuff.”
Under questioning after his arrest, the man allegedly confessed to entering the enclosure because he wanted to assist a bird that appeared to have a damaged wing.
“He stated he knows that ‘popping’ the wing back into its place (is) a common practice for birds, such as ducks,” police said, according 8 News Now. “He has knowledge of this because he is a farm boy.”
Photos and video found on his phone, however, show him torturing the animal and suggesting he’s going to take it back to Canada. Police also found a “large bloody feather” in the accused’s hotel room.
According to an arrest report obtained by KTNV , the man’s alleged attempt to fix the bird’s wing pulled the appendage out of its body and caused a blood supply rupture.
The injuries, and those to other birds, led to four charges of willful/malicious torture, maiming or killing of a “federally protected migratory species.”
In a probable cause hearing last week, a Las Vegas circuit court judge set bail at US$12,000 — which was later paid — and ordered the man to surrender his passport, wear a GPS monitor, and possess no animals.
He failed to appear for an initial justice court case hearing on Monday, where another judge reportedly admonished his lawyer for the absence and offered a stern warning.
“If he has a single violation while he’s out on bail and electronic monitoring that was set by the judge in initial appearance court, he is going to be remanded without bail in this case,” Judge Harmony Letizia said.
She also ordered that the man must remain in the city for the entirety of the court proceedings.
His next appearance is more than a month away on May 6.
Caesars, in a statement to National Post, said it was aware of the incident and would be “pursuing charges against this individual to the fullest extent possible.”
As for Peachy, the 27-year-old bird — some are known to live to 50 in captivity — is expected to make a full recovery and his “feisty personality” is returning, according to Lone Mountain Animal Hospital’s Dr. Tiffany Moore.
“When I saw Peachy, he was bright and alert and responsive, and he was stable, but there were some minor injuries to his wings,” she told KSNV .
“There were a couple blood feathers that were injured and we took care of that with pain meds to help support because it is painful, very similar to ripping off a fingernail.”
She urged people not to enter animal enclosures because it can scare them and result in potentially fatal capture myopathy, when stress causes the massive buildup of lactic acid in the body.
Caesars said the other injured birds are also recovering well.
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