Man shoots and kills pet parrot for being annoying

A 67-year-old Randolph man is accused of using a BB gun to kill the family pet of 20 years — an African grey parrot named "Mikey" — because the creature annoyed him while he watched a NASCAR race. The township's animal control officer has charged Dennis Zeglin with several counts of animal cruelty related to the alleged, June 7 shooting of Mikey around 4:30 p.m.

Zeglin's wife summoned police to the house, and they were met outside by Zeglin's adult son, who told them he covered the bird with a sheet and took it outside where he intended to bury it. The bird, instead, was autopsied by a veterinarian.

Zeglin's wife told police she was in an upstairs room of the home when she heard three shots. She stated she went downstairs and saw the dead parrot and her husband in his living room chair, police reports said. The wife said she called her husband "a crazy S.O.B.," but told police no argument or confrontation had occurred in the household before the BB gun was fired.

The alleged shooter was sitting in a chair in his living room when police walked in, and reached behind the chair to hand them a Daisy Powerline Model 93, CO2-powered BB gun he later admitted to using to kill Mikey, according to a police report.

Zeglin told a township animal control officer, Norma Jacobs, that he shot Mikey in its cage because the bird irritated him while he was watching television, reports said. Authorities advised the father and his son that if another family pet — a Labrador Retriever — annoys anybody they should call police or the animal control office, reports said.

Defense attorney Stephen Fletcher said his client was watching a NASCAR race at the time — the NASCAR Sprint Series Pocono 500 took place on that date — and was intoxicated. Since the animal cruelty charges were filed, Zeglin has undergone counselling to address alcoholism, Fletcher said. "The parrot was probably doing what parrots do — squawking and making a ruckus. But this was probably less about what the parrot was doing than Mr. Zeglin's alcohol problem," Fletcher said.