What is it with South Floridians and disputes over loud animals? Less than 2 weeks after a Broward man allegedly hammered, stabbed, and shot up his neighbor's roosters, a Port St. Lucie man has been arrested after spraying his neighbor’s macaw with weed killer.
Joseph Pacheco, 59, told neighbor Edson Santos that he was going to kill the expensive birds Santos keeps on his patio because of all their noise, according to the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office.
After Santos left his home on Monday, his daughter Julia said she saw Pacheco spray their macaw, Hanna, with an unknown substance multiple times before walking back to his own house.
"My daughter was inside, called me on the phone, crying, screaming, hysterical, 'The neighbor's killing the birds, the neighbor's killing the birds,'" Santos told TCPalm.
When confronted, Pacheco allegedly told a Sheriff's deputy that he was spraying weed killer around his home, and only sprayed water on the bird. But the bottle he showed officials didn't pass the sniff test.
“I opened the bottle and smelled it of a very toxic substance. Joseph then advised it was Round Up weed killer,” wrote the arresting deputy.
Veterinarian Dr. April Romagnano told TCPalm that the weed killer's affect on the bird's respiratory membranes makes it difficult for Hanna to breath. While she's expected to recover, the macaw is currently being given oxygen.
Pacheco was arrested on charges of burglary of an unoccupied dwelling and harm to a conservation animal. He was taken to St. Lucie County Jail and posted a cash bond of $15,750 the same day, public information officer Mark Weinberg told HuffPost Miami.
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