A man has been charged with animal torture after he was accused of harming a flamingo following a break-in at its enclosure at a Las Vegas hotel.
Canadian Mitchell Fairbarn was arrested at the Flamingo Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas early Tuesday morning on suspicion of multiple counts of animal cruelty. Officials disclosed they received the call regarding the alleged animal abuse at approximately 6am after a man reportedly broke into a flamingo’s habitat at the hotel.
Fairbarn, 33, of Ontario, is facing four counts of felony animal abuse for the incident. CCTV caught Fairbarn entering the hotel’s flamingo habitat at around 5am and grabbing a Chilean flamingo named ‘Peachy’.
Videos and photos on Fairbarn’s phone showed him carrying the animal through the hotel(Image: LVMPD)
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As he tried to remove the bird from the enclosure, the Canadian is said to have caused injury to a number of birds, including one he ‘pinned down’ and didn’t allow to escape. CCTV footage then shows him getting into a lift holding a bird, wrapped in a shirt, before wrangling it by the neck and legs in the corridor as he walks back to his room.
The police report states: “Fairbarn is seen laughing in the video and says ‘I’m taking it home’ as he walks back to his room, depicting a big ‘Fairbarn’ tattoo on his upper back, and the video ends.” Fairbairn told police he entered the flamingo enclosure after spotting a flamingo in distress, reports the Daily Star.
Fairbarn is seen laughing in videos saying he was going to ‘take the animal home'(Image: LVMPD)
He informed authorities he went into the habitat and attempted to pop the flamingo’s wing back into place despite multiple warning signs prohibiting public access to the enclosure. Police said: “He state he knows that ‘popping’ the wing back into its place [is] a common practice for birds, such as ducks. He has knowledge of this because he is a farm boy.”
According to animal control, Peachy the flamingo is said to have suffered a wing injury after the wing was “pulled” from its body, resulting in the animal needing stitches. At least two other flamingos in the habitat were injured.
Inside his hotel room, police later found a “large bloody feather”, along with other material. Authorities have stated Fairbairn “willfully and maliciously severely injured a federally protected migratory species such as the flamingo.”
Fairbarn is now facing four felony charges of animal abuse(Image: LVMPD)
The arrest report stated: “In addition to Fairbarn having on his cellphone multiple videos and pictures of him torturing a flamingo in his hotel room, by choking it and throwing it to the ground multiple times, while he is laughing about it, and with absolutely no regard for the safety and wellness of the animals, he was arrested and charged with four counts of Willful/ Malicious Torture/ Maim/ Kill an Animal.”
Fairbairn is due to appear in court on Monday, March 9. He has been ordered to stay away from the Las Vegas Strip after posting a $12,000 (£9,000) bail on Thursday.
On Wednesday, Caesars Entertainment Corp., which owns the Flamingo hotel, issued a statement on the incident it called “deeply distressing”. It read: “Our beloved birds, including Peachy, who was cruelly taken from the habitat, are currently in the care of dedicated veterinarians and our extraordinary Flamingo animal care team. We are hopeful they will make a full recovery.”