A GORLESTON man has warned people to guard their pets after his parrots were shot at several times - leaving one dead.

Michael Murphy, of Lowestoft Road, said he was “devastated” when he discovered his African Grey, Luna - worth £900 - dead on the floor of his garden aviary.

Mr Murphy, 47, who owns two other African Greys and two Orange Wing Amazon parrots, keeps the birds in a home-made aviary in his back garden.

The aviary is made up of a shed and outdoor area and Mr Murphy says he has been forced to keep them locked inside the shed because he is frightened for their well-being after discovering what he believes are air gun pellet holes in the shed windows.

Mr Murphy discovered his shed damaged on Monday last week and after he investigated, found parrot Luna in distress.

He said: “I could see from my kitchen that the shed windows had tiny holes in them, they looked like bullet holes. So I went to check on my birds.

“I found Luna at the bottom of the cage and she was very off, so I locked all the birds inside the shed for their safety.”

However, despite Mr Murphy's best efforts to protect his birds he

found Luna dead in the shed the next day.

He said: “I felt gutted, just devastated. I can't understand why anyone should want to do this.”

Then on Monday this week, Mr Murphy was told by his neighbours that they had heard shots being fired again.

He said: “My neighbours were sitting in their garden and could hear shots. I can't understand why anyone would want to hurt my birds.

“Of course they make a bit of

noise, but it is only in the mornings and I have spoken to my neighbours about it and they tell me they do not have a problem with it.

“Even if someone is annoyed with

the noise my birds make, that does not give them the right to kill them.”

He continued: “I only recently lost my father and this is something I could really do without.”

The police have been informed of the incident.

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OMG, that is insanity! Who could do such a thing!

I too know of someone who did that when I was younger. shot the bird through the window and then broke in to finish it off. He made the mistake of braggin infront of me.
Did I report it? YES! I told the homeowner and she brought charges up on him. He was a troubled *ss. He later took his own life, and sad to say, we are all probably a bit safer for it.

probably stupid kids, but what a heartbreak

That is why I wont leave my fids outside. I had nine fids years ago) killed by a racoon. It broke into my vinal and screened Florida room and pulled them right out through the bars of their cages.
Also, there was an incident a few years ago where someone threw five cages with birds in them into a pool. The owner kept them on his lani by the pool.
Way too many prediters...both human and animal to keep birds ouside, unsupervised.

Oh god I feel sick reading that! That's horrible. I feel so sad for both the man and his poor Luna. I hope they find the people responsible and throw something heavy at them.

This really makes me sick. One thing though,they should be able to tell where the shots came from without much trouble. It would make me think some about letting my guys enjoy the outdoors. Way to many sicko's out there and its sad to say alot of them are kids

That makes me feel so sick, those poor birds probably had no idea what was happening

People like them, make young people like me look bad. I hate idiots.

This is so sad. Reiterating what most have already stated - there are some real sick people out there. Really sick. And as most of us know, the death of a pet can sometimes be more devastating than the death of a human.

Sometimes pets just understand you better, and always love you no matter what. People don't get along with people.
I like my animals a lot more than I like most people.