SUMMERLAND KEY, Fla. — A Florida man was arrested after sheriff’s deputies said he stole his roommate’s parrot and left the injured animal at a bus stop.
Detectives with the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release that they were initially contacted by a 37-year-old woman who said that she believed her roommate, Justin David “Redbeard” Peters, had stolen her $1,800 eclectus parrot, named Piper. The victim told deputies that she had repeatedly asked Peters to leave the bird alone, and that he did not have permission to take the animal out of its cage or take it outside of the home.
A witness contacted police after seeing a man at a bus stop who walked away and left a parrot behind on the bench, WFLA reported. Other witnesses told investigators that they had seen the man, identified as Peters, with the bird, which was described as “agitated.”
Deputies said the bird was returned to its owner, who took it to the veterinarian. The bird had multiple broken bones, a dislocated hip, blunt force trauma to one side of its body and other injuries, deputies said in the news release.
Peters was taken to jail and charged with animal cruelty, according to jail records.
The eclectus parrot is native to Papua New Guinea and Indonesia, with female birds often a bright red color, with darker burgundy on their wings and a dull purple breast, according to University of Michigan’s Museum of Zoology. The birds can live up to 28 years in captivity.