Parrot that was 'violently' shaken in Ann Arbor is recovering, investigators say
A parrot that made national headlines after investigators say it was violently shaken on an Ann Arbor street in September is doing well, animal cruelty investigators say.
The Amazon parrot continues to favor its right leg, but the swelling and bruising around its right eye has gone away, said Matt Schaecher, supervisor of cruelty and rescue at the Humane Society of Huron Valley.
The parrot injured in September is recovering.
Lon Horwedel | AnnArbor.com
“It looks a lot better,” Schaecher said. “When we first got it, it looked a little disheveled.”
The parrot is being held at the Humane Society as its owner, 49-year-old Christopher Alan Turpen of Jackson, awaits trial on an animal torture charge. Turpen is out on bond, but could not be reached for comment Monday. He is prohibited from having an animal in his custody while the case is pending, court records show.
Ann Arbor police say Turpen, who kept the parrot in his backpack, shook it violently as its feathers flew, causing enough commotion for three witnesses to call 911 on Sept. 21. Officers arrested Turpen at 9 p.m. on South Main Street, records show.
According to Schaecher, Turpen wants the parrot back.
“We were going to try and get him to surrender the bird, but I don’t think he’s going to do that,” Schaecher said.
If Turpen is convicted, the Humane Society will seek permanent custody of the bird and attempt to adopt it out, Schaecher said. For the time being, the parrot has been living in Schaecher's office, spending much of the day looking at itself in a mirror in its cage, Schaecher said.
It occasionally blurts out "what" and sometimes says "good-bye" as someone leaves the room, Schaecher said.
A transcript of an Oct. 13 preliminary hearing in the case provides new details about what witnesses say occurred that night. At the conclusion of that hearing, 14B District Judge Charles Pope found there was enough evidence for Turpen to stand trial.
Christina Roselle testified she stopped at a stop light at the intersection of Pauline Boulevard and South Seventh Street when she saw something moving out of the corner of her eye. A man was holding what appeared to be a bird in his left hand as he made a swinging motion with his right hand and hit it an estimated 6 to 8 times, she testified. At one point, she said, Turpen had two hands on the bird.
“It looked to me like he was, you know, twisting, perhaps, you know, trying to break his neck, twist his neck,” she said.
Turpen was yelling at the bird, she testified, as it was screaming loudly, "“Awww! Awww!”
“I thought it was obviously a call of distress,” she said. She drove two blocks home and called 911.
Ann Arbor police Officer Christopher Wooley, who responded that night to a report of a bird being abused, said his partner pulled the patrol car within three feet of Turpen on South Main Street. Wooley saw the bird's feathers fly as Turpen was “slamming it in a downward fashion."
"And I couldn’t tell if he was like hitting it up against his leg or the ground," Wooley testified.
According to Wooley, when officers asked Turpen what he was doing, he said, "he was disciplining the bird. It was a new bird and it needed to be disciplined."
Dr. Stacey Weinrick, a veterinarian at the Humane Society of Huron Valley, examined the parrot three days after the alleged attack. Its right eye was swollen, the right side of its face was bruised, it had bruising and swelling around its lower jaw and a cut on its left wing, she testified. Weinrick gave it anti-inflammatory medication.
The bruising on the right side of its face indicated some sort of "blunt trauma," she testified. Asked by a prosecutor how violently shaking the bird would affect it, Weinrick testified it would subject it to "incredible stress."
“Birds are very, very sensitive to stress,” she testified.
She later said, “You know, it’s not unusual for birds to — if they are in a very stressful situation, to suffer cardiac arrest."
Turpen is scheduled to appear Nov. 22 for a pretrial hearing in front of Washtenaw County Circuit Judge Melinda Morris. If convicted of the felony animal torture charge, Turpen faces up to four years in prison.
Lee Higgins covers crime and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached by phone at (734) 623-2527 and e-mail at leehiggins@annarbor.com.
Comments
Edward Vielmetti
Sun, Feb 27, 2011 : 2:28 p.m.
Turpen is back in court: <a href="http://washtenawtrialcourt.org/calendar/MM" rel='nofollow'>http://washtenawtrialcourt.org/calendar/MM</a> Monday February 28, 2011 8:30 am Judge Melinda Morris CR-W-10-0001684 FH TURPEN, CHRISTOPHER ALAN JURY TRIAL POWELL, LLOYD E Count: 001 ANIMALS - KILLING/TORTURING 002 CONTROLLED SUB. - DELIVERY/MFG MARIHUANA
Penny
Wed, Nov 3, 2010 : 2:13 p.m.
I want to offer my "Thanks!" to the witnesses that called 911; animals have little defense against the humans who do harm to them. People HAVE to offer their voices for the innocent ones that have none. My heart just breaks for this parrot. I'm certain it wasn't doing anything wrong - just trying to being a parrot under crappy circumstances. Turpen obviously knows nothing about the fragility of the body and spirit of a parrot, and he should never, ever get a chance to touch another bird again!!! I hope he goes to prison and I can't say I'd be sad if some big bad prison dude treated him like he treated that poor bird.
kb
Wed, Nov 3, 2010 : 1:39 a.m.
Poor lil birdie. I hope he heals up completely.
adameichner
Tue, Nov 2, 2010 : 7:07 p.m.
I would be more than happy to give Mr. Turpen the "Scruff shake" correction he so sorely needs. Nothing breeds compassion more than coming to understand the experience of the victim. Just let me know how I can help.
Blackbird
Tue, Nov 2, 2010 : 4:51 p.m.
I want to adopt this little guy. I'm thinking of going and paying him a visit this week.
Roadman
Tue, Nov 2, 2010 : 3:33 p.m.
The parrot is a victim fowl play. All kidding aside, good to hear it is recovering and the alleged owner/assailant facing criminal charges.
Bonsai
Tue, Nov 2, 2010 : 2:47 p.m.
must be something more interesting to cover -- there may be some paint drying somewhere, or a dog biting a man.
Agradable Amigo
Tue, Nov 2, 2010 : 2:13 p.m.
This just inthe parrot is planning on running for state senate next termhe/she has my vote already! Cant do worse.
BobbyJohn
Tue, Nov 2, 2010 : 12:52 p.m.
First off, of course it is objectionable that someone would abuse an animal. And the police should intervene if called. Police, however do have discretion and if they felt that the owner just needed a little talking to I would have hoped they would have done that rather than wasting the city's and courts time with a relatively minor issue. If the man had been taking the bird home to chop off it's head to make dinner, then no law would have been broken. After all, Thanksgiving is coming up and millions of Turkeys will be killed so people can have a joyous and delicious holiday. If the person had ignored the officers and continued to torture the parrot, then the police should have intervened. Yet I am not sure it was prudent or wise to intervene based on what is at AnnArbor.com
mommaof2
Tue, Nov 2, 2010 : 12:36 p.m.
Glad the parrot is okay.. Glad A2 news saved this for Nov. 2nd when no other news was pertinent today. Seriously though, glad the parrot is okay
Captain Magnificent
Tue, Nov 2, 2010 : 12:04 p.m.
I'm disappointed that the "journalist" wasn't able to obtain Turpen's side of the story. I'm curious whether the parrot said anything to incite him to violence. I have several close friends with parrots and while most are well behaved there are a couple who are more foul-mouthed than any person I've ever met, and they can certainly get under your skin if you're already in a bad mood. Now I would never justify violence towards a parrot or any other living being, I'm just saying that there may be mitigating circumstances that caused Mr Turpen to crack.
Huron74
Tue, Nov 2, 2010 : 11:54 a.m.
Should Turpen be convicted his sentence should preclude any further ownership of pets or animals of any kind.
krc
Tue, Nov 2, 2010 : 11:44 a.m.
It was a 'new' bird. Does this mean he has more at home? Have the police searched his place to see? May I suggest that his guy ought to have the book thrown at him? If only we adhered to "an eye for an eye". And as for you folks who are making fun, how would you feel if it was a pet of yours that this creep was abusing? Have some compassion!
Todd
Tue, Nov 2, 2010 : 11:11 a.m.
someone needs to put him in a bag and do the same to him wonder how he would feel after that. sick people in this world what did that poor bird do to him to make him wanna shake and kill the bird. sick sick people in this world
Melissa LR Handa
Tue, Nov 2, 2010 : 11:08 a.m.
I'm surprised the bird didn't retaliate. Amazons have big enough beaks to be able to sever digits, if they want to. My Sun Conure deems my husband coming peacably within a foot of me worthy of his special brand of vigilante bird justice.
Brian Bundesen
Tue, Nov 2, 2010 : 10:40 a.m.
One the one hand, this is a serious and disturbing incident. Obviously, the guy should not get the bird back. On the other hand, I would wager that the off-topic comments that were removed are pretty funny.
ypsicat
Tue, Nov 2, 2010 : 10:20 a.m.
One way to help make sure this parrot receives justice is to go to the pretrial hearing if you are able, and quietly let the prosecutor know why you are there. If enough concerned citizens do this it will make quite an impression.
bunnyabbot
Tue, Nov 2, 2010 : 9:59 a.m.
I am glad the bird is doing better, however having been a bird owner I know that they are social animals, if the bird is staring at the mirror he might need another bird to keep him company, he might get lonely and depressed :( I wonder if the bird would do better in the care of a foster home than stuff in an office. MK, oh yes they can have sudden cardiac arrest, a timid bird and a game of peek-a-boo has been known to do it. Birds can also get so stressed that they pull their feathers out or they just fall out on thier own.
MjC
Tue, Nov 2, 2010 : 9:48 a.m.
I'm so grateful to the people who contacted 911 when others might have just looked the other way. Cheers to all of you!
Scott
Tue, Nov 2, 2010 : 9:36 a.m.
Wow - If this was Turpen's latest bird, that he was quite literally "breaking-in", I shudder to think of what happened to his previous bird, or birds......This guy should not be disciplining ANYTHING - he's obviously a menace.
Ignatz
Tue, Nov 2, 2010 : 8:44 a.m.
I'm happy to hear the parrot is doing better. I hope that Turpen doesn't find himself accidentily strapped to one of those paint can shaking machines.
sheeple
Tue, Nov 2, 2010 : 8:32 a.m.
So it seems there won't be any need for the dead parrot sketch...
MK
Tue, Nov 2, 2010 : 7:54 a.m.
Didnt know that birds could die from stress, interesting.
donderop
Tue, Nov 2, 2010 : 6:56 a.m.
The bird should never be returned to Turpen. I have a separate, special bird for him.