A Torrance attorney who says he has devoted himself to rescuing pigeons was arrested on October 12 after animal control officers raided his house and discovered at least 300 caged birds, both dead and alive, in filthy conditions.
About 120 dead pigeons filled bags and boxes alongside Gerard Redmond Enright Jr.'s house in the 200 block of Via Los Altos. Some others found alive in pet carriers were immediately euthanized because they were sick or malnourished, said Patrick Wren, administrator in charge of Torrance's animal control department. Some birds were taken to a veterinarian's office, where they also were likely to be put to sleep to prevent illness, Wren said.
"There's droppings everywhere," Wren said. "I'm wearing a mask. That says it all."
County health department officials quickly declared the house unlawful for habitation because of the accumulation of bacteria, including dried bird feces and particulates from feathers.
"We are concerned that the sheer accumulation of birds in a concentrated area makes the area unfit for breathing," said Terrance Powell, a county environmental health official.
Enright, 61, arrested on suspicion of animal cruelty, bailed out of jail by late afternoon. In an interview, he denied mistreating pigeons and said he had devoted his life to saving them.
"I'm literally in shock," Enright said. "They cannot be killing any of my birds. That's like if someone was killing your kids. All my family has feathers."
Animal control and police officers clad in protective plastic suits and masks marveled at the home's interior. Officers said each room -- including the bathroom and basement -- contained beige pet carriers filled with pigeons.
"There are pigeons stacked in pet carriers from the floor to the ceiling," Torrance police Lt. Rod Irvine said.
Pathways less than 2 feet wide allowed movement through the house.
Enright said he took good care of the birds. Wednesday was supposed to be feeding day.
"All these birds in there were doing fine. They were enjoying life," he said. "I'm not trying to collect these birds. The only reason I have so many is I couldn't find homes for them fast enough."
Asked why he did not release them to the wild, he said they were domesticated and would fall prey to hawks.
By midafternoon, officers stacked about 40 pet carriers taken from the living room in the front yard. Wren said work was expected to continue late into the night to remove the rest and take the birds away. "I will be showering very well tonight," he said.
Enright, who said he had 150 carriers in the house, is no secret to the community. Well-known in Riviera Village in Redondo Beach, the man with a long thick beard walks with his pigeon Twister to get coffee at Starbucks. "She's my dearest little close friend," he said.
Police said People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, an animal rights organization, contacted Torrance animal control authorities, concerned about Enright's birds.
Wren visited Enright on Oct 10 and found him conducting surgery on a pigeon. Only licensed veterinarians can conduct such procedures.
"It looked like he was trying to do CPR on the bird," Wren said.
Enright said that was exactly what he was doing. He had just conducted a second operation on the bird, which had been brought to him days earlier for treatment of a growth in its stomach.
A woman told him she had taken the bird to three veterinarians, but no one would help it. The growth was slightly smaller than a tennis ball. Enright said he had watched his own veterinarian perform such an operation.
He gave the bird a shot of vodka and used an Exacto knife to cut into it. He also used Anbesol, a numbing agent used for teething babies, as anesthesia.
"I made a gentle cut in the rear abdomen right where the growth was," he said. "It looked like stuff I'd seen before. It looked like old remnants from where several eggs had not ejected. I got out quite a bit of it."
Enright said he let the bird heal for a few days. He was wrapping up a second surgery when Wren arrived at his house that Monday.
"Unfortunately, she was too weak to make it," he said. "The poor little thing died in my hand."
Neighbors said they never had been inside the house, despite the fact Enright had lived in it most of his life. Once his parents died, the house's exterior fell into disrepair.
Although his neighbors have lush green lawns, Enright's is dead. Out back, police said, the yard was littered with junked cars and an airplane fuselage.
"He's the eyesore of the neighborhood," one neighbor said. Case UpdatesVeterinarians euthanized more than 200 of the pigeons found living in squalor in a Torrance home earlier this week after deeming them too sick or malnourished to survive.
They spared only one, the favorite of self-styled pigeon rescuer Gerard Redmond Enright Jr. Animal control officers who raided Enright's house found hundreds of pigeons, some already dead. He faces possible charges of cruelty to animals.
Health officials plan to test both the house and some of the birds for any dangerous bacteria or diseases, said Lt. Rod Irvine of the Torrance Police Department. The cages and carriers that officers found stacked in the house were so caked with droppings that a hazardous-waste company was called to dispose of them, he said.
Enright remained free Thursday on $20,000 bail. Boards covered the windows of his house, along with a notice to stay out and a padlock on the front door. A copy of the Los Angeles Pigeon Club News lay on the porch, covered with pigeon feathers.
Enright, a 61-year-old attorney, has compared the birds to a family. He said he had devoted himself to rescuing them, but couldn't find foster homes fast enough.
The animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals first asked police to check on Enright and his birds Monday. He had told a PETA member that he was performing surgical operations on some of them, said Stephanie Boyles, a wildlife biologist with the group.
"Some of the things he told us he did to the birds in his care sounded very disturbing to us," she said.
An animal control official from Torrance found Enright conducting surgery on a pigeon when he visited later that day. Enright told the Daily Breeze he had been operating to remove a growth, after numbing the pigeon with a shot of vodka and pain-relief gel.
Police and animal control officers raided the house Wednesday, dressed in protective suits and masks. They said they found pet carriers filled with pigeons even in the bathroom and basement.
They found about 120 dead pigeons in bags and boxes outside the house. They found 220 birds alive, but veterinarians on the scene decided that 219 should be euthanized with lethal injections, Irvine said.
They spared the bird Enright had named Twister after he bailed out of jail, returned to his house and pleaded for her life. He had described her as his "dearest little close friend" and was known to walk her to get coffee.
Twister was in quarantine Thursday, under observation at an undisclosed location for any signs of sickness or poor health.
County health officials declared the house unlawful for habitation. On Thursday, piles of two-month-old newspapers stood on the front porch, along with plastic bins of birdseed and discarded carriers. Black flies circled the porch in small swarms.
Tests of the house and birds will determine whether those who entered the house were exposed to any harmful bacteria, and how extensive the cleanup will be. "At this point, there's no reason to believe there's a risk to the public," Irvine said.
Enright faces possible felony charges of cruelty to animals, and will likely face violations of health and municipal codes, Irvine said. The District Attorney's Office will decide how to charge him after reviewing investigative reports.
Enright appears to have been active among local bird-rescue groups. He had taken the lead in a campaign against the use of a glue-like substance to trap and exterminate pigeons. He was known among friends as Red. | Source: Daily Breeze - Oct 14, 2005
Update posted on Oct 14, 2005 - 5:40AM |
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