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A Clark County jury convicted Mitchell Fairbarn on October 19 of one felony count and one misdemeanor count of animal cruelty the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported after reviewing 112 exhibits and hearing from 14 witnesses during a four-day trial. The verdicts came after five hours of deliberations with the felony tied to actions in the hotel room and the misdemeanor linked to the habitat incident according to 8 News Now. District Judge Jacqueline Bluth scheduled sentencing for December 1 and Fairbarn who had been in custody since March was permitted to remain on house arrest until then Clark County officials said.
Fairbarn entered the Flamingo Las Vegas Wildlife Habitat around 5 a.m. on March 3 after consuming 30 to 40 beers over the previous day while attending a construction expo in the city CBC News reported from his testimony. Surveillance video showed him jumping a fence grabbing Peachy a 27-year-old Chilean flamingo by its legs and carrying the bird through an elevator and hallway to his room as prosecutors detailed for jurors. He injured two other birds during the intrusion into the enclosure which houses geriatric flamingos suffering from arthritis resort staff explained to police in body camera footage obtained by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Videos from Fairbarn’s cellphone captured him choking the flamingo throwing it to the floor and laughing while the bird screamed in distress according to the arrest report cited by the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Peachy lost seven to eight feathers including blood feathers and sustained wing injuries that a veterinarian monitored after the bird returned to the habitat the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. Expert testimony established that the flamingo experienced pain when pulled by its feet and that all injured birds were expected to recover fully a medical director at Lone Mountain Animal Hospital told the newspaper.
Fairbarn testified that he had thought taking the bird would create a silly joke with his friends and that he regretted his actions. “I thought it would be at the time funny” he stated in court according to video footage shared by CBC News and other outlets. His attorney Josh Tomsheck told jurors the behavior resulted from extreme intoxication rather than malice and noted that Fairbarn had received death threats after the case drew international coverage the BBC reported.
The Wildlife Habitat at the Flamingo Las Vegas opened in 1995 during a $130 million renovation and features Chilean flamingos along with turtles fish and other birds that adapt to the Southern Nevada climate according to resort history detailed by the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The birds in the enclosure are typically geriatric which complicated their care after the incident staff told police in footage reviewed by the newspaper. Caesars Entertainment which owns the property described the event as deeply distressing in a statement and said it anticipated a full recovery for the flock the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
Similar incidents at the habitat include a 2005 attempt by two intoxicated men to steal a flamingo that was stopped by police and a 2012 case in which a law student beheaded a guinea fowl resulting in probation and a disciplinary program Casino.org documented from court records. The current convictions add to documentation of risks to the animals at the popular free attraction that draws thousands of tourists annually. Fairbarn who surrendered his passport after his arrest has been restricted to house arrest in Las Vegas while awaiting the December 1 sentencing that could bring four years in prison on the felony charge according to Clark County court officials.
