The Man Who Stole Peachy the Flamingo From the Flamingo Las Vegas Was Convicted of Animal Cruelty — and Faces Prison on Dec. 1

LAS VEGAS

Peachy is back in the habitat, recovered, and the man who dragged him out of it is now a convicted felon. A Clark County jury on Monday convicted Mitchell Grant Fairbarn, 34, of Ontario, Canada, of one felony and one misdemeanor count of animal cruelty for stealing Peachy, a Chilean flamingo, from the Flamingo Las Vegas wildlife habitat, USA TODAY reported. CNN reported the jury deliberated for about five hours before returning the verdicts, after prosecutors argued the taking was a malicious prank and the defense argued it was drunken foolishness never meant to harm the bird. Both things were argued in that courtroom for a week. The jury picked a side, and it was not the prank defense.

Fairbarn faces up to four years in prison on the felony plus six months in county jail on the misdemeanor, according to USA TODAY, and he is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 1. CNN reported he remains under house arrest pending that sentencing, declined to comment as he left the courtroom, and showed no visible emotion when the verdicts came in. It is a remarkable distance to travel — legally, morally, geographically — because of about fifteen minutes with a bird at 5 in the morning.

What happened at 5 a.m. on March 3

The incident began around 5 a.m. on March 3 at the Flamingo’s outdoor wildlife habitat, according to court documents reviewed by USA TODAY. Prosecutors said Fairbarn entered the habitat, grabbed Peachy by the legs and neck, dragged the bird, squeezed it in his arms and pulled feathers out, and took the flamingo to his hotel room as a joke to show his friends. Habitat surveillance video showed him walking through the habitat for about ten minutes while talking on the phone with a colleague, USA TODAY reported, before he eventually entered the water near a waterfall and grabbed the bird. Snapchat photos introduced at trial showed a shirtless Fairbarn smiling while carrying Peachy, according to USA TODAY, and CNN reported video played at trial showed him holding the flamingo in an elevator and carrying it down a hotel hallway.

When Peachy was found, the bird was missing seven to eight feathers, had blood on its feathers and had injuries to its wings, CNN reported, citing authorities. USA TODAY reported hotel employees told police Peachy appeared to have abrasions on one wing and what they believed was an open wound, and that a flamingo facilities manager eventually wrapped the bird in a towel and carried him away after noticing the flamingo was shaking and seeing red spots on the towel. One worker’s line to police, in body-camera footage reviewed by USA TODAY, says more about the habitat than any press release could: “The flamingos are our family.” A veterinarian later testified that Peachy has since recovered from his injuries, USA TODAY reported, though CNN reported Peachy’s veterinarian said the bird is doing all right physically but is more anxious and nervous when being evaluated.

“Dumb, and fueled by drunkenness”

The defense never really disputed the outline. Defense attorney Josh Tomsheck called the taking dumb and fueled by drunkenness and said Fairbarn never intended harm to the bird, CNN reported — intent being a key element of the felony charge. “He should not have done that, should not have gone into the habitat, shouldn’t have touched a bird, shouldn’t have taken Peachy inside,” Tomsheck said, according to CNN. “The truth is, Mitch was drunk. Mitch was stupid. He made bad decisions.” Fairbarn himself testified that he intended to bring the bird to his hotel room and show it to friends, and said, according to USA TODAY: “I thought it was something that we could joke about for the rest of our lives.” He testified he drank 30 to 40 beers over roughly 24 hours before the incident, USA TODAY reported.

Prosecutor Haley Willming acknowledged the hard year that followed for Fairbarn — CNN reported she noted he had received death threats and missed his father’s death while unable to leave the United States awaiting trial — and then closed the door on sympathy as a defense. Those events were unfortunate, she said, but “none of that would have happened had he not made the choices he made,” according to CNN. Clark County District Attorney Steven B. Wolfson praised the verdict in a statement reported by USA TODAY: Peachy, he said, “was a defenseless flamingo who endured senseless cruelty, and we are grateful to know that Peachy is doing well today,” adding, “Justice for Peachy!”

Why Las Vegas took this one personally

Outsiders read this case as a bizarre-crime curiosity. Las Vegas did not. The Flamingo is one of the oldest hotels on the Las Vegas Strip, CNN noted, and its habitat is not a lobby decoration — it is a working home for Chilean flamingos alongside hummingbirds, turtles, koi and other species, free for anyone to walk through. USA TODAY reported workers told police many of the birds in the habitat are decades old, some in their 40s and approaching their 50s, and some depend on the habitat for their care. Peachy himself is 27. In a city built on the idea that anything can be replaced, the habitat is one of the few attractions that cannot be: you cannot order another 27-year-old flamingo.

That is the context for the reaction outside the courtroom. Nevada animal-rights advocate John Waudby, who recently helped strengthen the state’s animal cruelty laws, told CNN he believed justice was delivered on Peachy’s behalf. “I hope this sends a message to anybody else that wants to mess with our animals, that you’re not going to do it in Nevada,” Waudby said, according to CNN. Note the “our.” That is how this city talks about those birds.

What happens next is Dec. 1. A judge will decide how much of that possible four years plus six months Fairbarn actually serves, and the arguments are easy to predict: a defense built on drunkenness, regret and a year already spent under restriction in a foreign country, against a prosecution that can simply replay the surveillance video and the Snapchat photos and restate the jury’s answer. Whatever the sentence, the verdict itself is already the message Waudby wanted sent. Vegas forgives a lot of 5 a.m. decisions. It keeps a list, apparently, and harming the flamingos is on it. For more from the city the habitat calls home, see our Las Vegas coverage and the Previously news front.