Son of animal hoarder drops off nearly 500 parakeets at animal shelter before Christmas

[Sugar Cookie]

The son of an animal hoarder dropped off nearly 500 parakeets to a southeast Michigan rescue shelter shortly before Christmas, and plans to return later with at least 50 more birds.

Kelley LeBonty, director of the Detroit Animal Welfare Group, which operates a shelter on a 25-acre farm in Macomb County's Bruce Township, said in an interview Saturday that the son called to say he was coming to surrender 60 to 80 parakeets that were at his father's house.

But when the son arrived at the shelter late Thursday night, he actually had 497 parakeets in his pickup.

"He had them all in seven cages," LeBonty said. “A very tight fit. They were kind of on top of each other and smothering each other. ... They were very very stressed. They were barely moving. We had to get them out and into different cages."

The son said his father kept the birds in the cages in one room of his house, and had been spending $1,200 a month to feed the birds, LeBonty said.

"His son said that he just wanted to breed a few of them, and it got out of control," LeBonty said. “The problem is birds breed easily. And then you just have more babies and more babies and more babies if you don’t control the situation."

While some of the parakeets appear to be healthy, others have foot problems and eye problems.

"They haven’t seen a vet yet because obviously it is Christmas, but definitely some of them are pretty sick," she said.

Another Romeo-area animal rescue group took about 220 of the parakeets, she said, and other groups are coming Sunday to take in more. The parakeets' health will be monitored for two to four weeks before they are eligible for adoption.

LeBonty said Detroit Animal Welfare Group is lucky that someone last month donated four large bags of parakeet food.

“I said, 'We don’t get that many parakeets, I don’t know if I need that food,' " she recalled. "But I took it, and here we are. So I guess it was meant to be.”

The total number of rescued parakeets could soon exceed 500.

According to LeBonty, the son said that he planned to return to the shelter after Christmas with more parakeets from his father's home.

“He said around 50," LeBonty said. "But before he told me 60 (parakeets), and he came in with about 500.”

Son of animal hoarder drops off nearly 500 parakeets at animal shelter before Christmas

The parakeets were said to be crammed together in just seven cages and barely able to move.

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Law enforcement often get involved in animal hoarding cases when it comes to dogs and cats, but the group has decided to not contact the authorities about the parakeets, according to LeBonty.

“They reached out to us for help, and that’s a step in the right direction,” she said. “Now these birds can be in a proper home and get the care they need.”

500 parakeets dropped off at animal shelter by son of animal hoarder

DETROIT, Mich. (WTVO) — Nearly 500 parakeets were dropped off at a southeast Michigan rescue shelter shortly before Christmas, with plans to return later with at least 50 more. The large numb…

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[Alxprkrkrls]

While I am a person who loves having pets I could not own a bird. I hate thinking that a creature who could fly would spend its life in a cage. I live in the NYC area and there are a couple of neighborhoods in the boroughs that have wild exotic birds populations from overturned pet trucks and they live happily in all kinds of weather. It’s always wild to be driving through Queens looking at the Empire State Building and seeing a bright green bird fly past your dash. I wish people would stop breeding them, so many don’t realize the years long commitment a bird is.