53 Baby Birds Seized From Teen's Bedroom

LONGMONT, Colo. — Police in Colorado have confiscated 53 baby birds from a 15-year-old boy who apparently took them from neighborhood nests and stored them in his bedroom.

Police believe the boy had the birds for at least 24 hours. Authorities confiscated them on June 16 after his mother realized he had them and called animal control.

"He and some other children in the neighborhood had been trying to feed them with little success," Longmont police Sgt. Dave Orr said.

The birds included barn swallows, sparrows and a bluebird. Forty died, but the other 13 are recuperating at the Greenwood Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in nearby Boulder and are expected to survive.

The boy had no explanation for raiding the nests, Orr said. He was ticketed for cruelty to animals and interference with wild birds.

Rehabilitators said the tiny birds have to be fed every 45 minutes and must be kept warm so their digestive systems don't shut down. The birds will be taught to eat and allowed to fly in enclosures so they can eventually be released back into the wild.

Colorado law allows people to transport injured or sick wildlife to a veterinarian or rehabilitation center, but it's illegal to try to care for wild animals.

"Every once in a while, we get animals from people who mean well," Greenwood operations manager Gabriele Paul said. "They don't know it is illegal to do it themselves."

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On the Net:

Greenwood Wildlife Rehabilitation Center: http://www.greenwoodwildlife.org/

Comments

[yannb]

I love animals. Too much maybe. And when I was a teenager, every year I would also raid the local nests. My intentions were good: I wanted to raise birds (mostly pigeons, doves, and magpies). Sadly, I never succeeded. I would wait until they'd be just about ready to fly to get them. I feel so ashamed about it. Mother Nature knows best and taking care of baby birds, even if they're a few weeks old, is nearly impossible for a human.

[DaynaMichelle]

This kid is showing the early signs of hoarding, and there need to be consequences for these actions! I see so many people saying "oh he is just a kid", but there are many kids out there that go under the radar of serious mental problems for people dismiss their behaviors with that exact phrase.

Taking these 53 birds away from their mothers is cruelty, and this kid needs to learn that message! If the story had read "Boy kills 53 birds stolen from nest" would the response still be he is just a kid? It would soon be the case for he didn't know how to properly feed them, and they were going to die.

[madfigs]

I wonder if the mother regrets calling Animal Control, now that her son has been ticketed for animal cruelty and interference with wild birds.
It's not like he was torturing them, he was trying to feed them, it just sounds like he might have something else going on.

[cucumber]

How very cruel to steal them from their mothers. For him not to realize that consequence is unlikely. He's either exceptionally cruel or exceptionally unconscious and stupid.

[BlackYowe]

Weird kid.

[MsIrisMG]

Talk about health hazard! I've raised baby birds before...they stink!

[tm68]

The kid sure showed some tenacity though. To raid that many nests? They aren't always the easiest things to get your hands on!

[doodlebug2]

That kid is creepy. These types of kids end up future deliquents.

[Trilby]

Have people gone mad!?!?

[gbrooks]

He's just a kid, maybe a little slow, who liked the birdies. He wasn't trying to kill them.

[Smirk]

Ditto! What's with the bunny-hoarding and birdie-hoarding lately?