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Boy Tries to Raise 53 Baby Birds in his Room
When you think of teenage boys’ misdeeds, stealing baby birds is not likely to jump to mind. It may be better than dealing cocaine, but it’s certainly cause for serious alarm.
A Colorado mom called animal control after she discovered that her 15-year-old son had 53 baby birds in his room. He had stolen the newborn swallows and sparrows, some of which hatched in his room, from numerous nests in his neighborhood. He and other neighborhood kids had tried to feed the motherless creatures, but with little success. Only 13 of the birds survived, and they are being cared for at a wildlife rehabilitation center.
How, we might wonder, did this boy manage to keep nearly 60 birds in his room for over 24 hours without his mother’s knowledge? And what would possess a 15-year-old to mess with birds’ nests, a wildlife no-no that even four-year-olds respect?
It seems we will never get the answers to these questions, since the boy was simply ticketed for animal cruelty and offered no explanation for his behavior. His mother was equally tight-lipped, though she offered that she was “concerned” about her son’s misdeed.
Am I going too far in believing that this mother should have been given advice from a counselor? Endangering the lives of numerous animals is not exactly your average teenage rebellion. And being ignorant of the fact that there are 50 birds in the house is not exactly your average level of parental involvement.
Photo: The Longmont Times
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2 Comments
Kim commented on Jun 26 09 at 8:35 pmWhile I absolutely don’t condone what this kid did, as far as ‘animal cruelty’ goes it seems to me a lot more misguided than malevolent. He was trying to feed them, though why he would steal them is beyond my understanding; it seems like a misbegotten attempt to gain pets rather than actually kill the animals.
While that’s probably little comfort to the bereaved mama birds, I don’t think the boy set out to injure the poor things.
Kayt commented on Jun 28 09 at 2:03 pmI’m not sure an animal cruelty ticket is right in this situation. What he did was obviously wrong, but it seems clear to me he wasn’t trying to hurt them, but nurture them. Has anyone asked him instead of just slapping him with a ticket?
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