Canadian tourist on trial for drunken flamingo theft at Las Vegas casino

Police allege that Mitchell Fairbarn, a 34-year-old tourist from Ontario, Canada, breached the Flamingo Hotel and Casino’s bird enclosure in March and removed a flamingo called Peachy. Video shows him laughing, climbing a fence and handling the bird, which later displayed feather loss, broken shafts and blood loss, prompting a veterinarian to prescribe antibiotics and pain medication. Fairbarn testified that he had drunk 30 to 40 beers that day, entered the habitat around 5 a.m., and took the bird briefly as a joke before leaving it in a hallway.

He denied any malicious intent and said he was taking responsibility for the injuries, though he could not explain the missing feathers. He has been confined to house arrest and barred from re-entering Canada, with the trial set to resume for closing arguments on Monday.