Posted on 06/14/2004 8:11:10 AM PDT by martin_fierro
Calif. Man Sentenced for Attacking Parrot
Sat Jun 12, 9:46 PM ET
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. - A man who attacked his pet macaw, breaking its beak and leg, must complete 120 days of community service and take anger management classes, a judge ruled Friday.
Anthony James Ellis, 53, had been sentenced to 120 days in jail but Orange County Superior Court Judge Susanne Shaw said she would allow him to complete the sentence as community service.
Shaw also ruled that Ellis must pay $3,577.26 in restitution for surgery and care of the bird and cannot have pets or consume alcohol during three years of probation.
Ellis was convicted April 27 of felony animal cruelty and abuse of an animal.
Witnesses testified that Ellis punched the bird — named "Johnny" — and slammed its head against the deck of his boat outside the Newport Harbor Elks Lodge, where the parrot was the mascot.
Ellis testified that the bird, which he had owned for 11 years, was injured after it bit him on the arm and he fell down, and that witnesses outside the lodge misunderstood what they saw.
The parrot survived the March 2003 attack and was adopted by an animal care agency.
There was once a magician on a cruise ship who performed mainly sleight of hand tricks. He had a regular spot on the ship's cabaret evening entertainment. He was actually quite a good magician, but his routines were regularly ruined by the onboard parrot who would fly around squawking out and giving away his secrets like:
"IT'S UP HIS SLEEVE, IT'S UP HIS SLEEVE!"or
"IT'S IN HIS POCKET, IT'S IN HIS POCKET!"or
"IT'S IN HIS MOUTH, IT'S IN HIS MOUTH!"
The magician was getting pretty sick of this and threatened to kill the parrot if it ruined his act one more time. That evening right at the climax of his act, just as he was about to disappear in a puff of smoke, the ship hit an iceberg and sank in seconds.
Amazingly, the magician and the parrot were the only two survivors. The magician was lying on a piece of driftwood in a daze. As he opened his eyes he could see the parrot staring at him out of its beady little eye.
The parrot sat there for hours just staring at him and eventually said, "OK, I give up, what did you do with the ship?"
Ellis was lucky. A macaw's beak's powerful. Mine bit a broomstick in half.
It's an ex-parrot!
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