A Nevada jury on Monday convicted an Ontario contractor of animal cruelty after he climbed into the flamingo habitat at the Flamingo Las Vegas Hotel and Casino, seized a 27-year-old Chilean flamingo named Peachy, and hauled the bird back to his room in the early morning hours of March 3.
Mitchell Fairbarn, 34, who runs an excavation business and was in Las Vegas for a construction trade show, faces up to four years in prison on the felony count plus a possible additional six months on a related misdemeanor. Judge Jacqueline Bluth set sentencing for December 1; Fairbarn remains under house arrest until then and has been unable to return to Canada since his arrest.
Surveillance video played at trial and circulating online shows Fairbarn and companions shirtless in a hotel hallway, manhandling the pink bird. Frames capture the flamingo being gripped by the neck and body, its long legs flailing and dangling as the men move it down the corridor and into an elevator. Prosecutors said the bird was squawking and that feathers littered the floor of Fairbarn’s room. A veterinarian later testified Peachy lost seven to eight feathers, including blood feathers, suffered wing inflammation and injuries, and faced risk of respiratory distress from the way it was held.
Fairbarn took the stand and admitted drinking “30 to 40” beers in the preceding 24 hours. He described the episode as a “silly pranky joke” meant for photos and laughs with friends, insisted he never intended to harm or kill the bird, and said he was in the habitat only briefly. “I thought it would be, at the time, funny,” he testified. His attorney, Josh Tomsheck, argued the act was drunken foolishness without malice and that Fairbarn deeply regretted the “bad decisions.” The defense also noted Fairbarn had learned his cancer-stricken father had been hospitalized around the time of the trip.
Prosecutors rejected the excuse. Chief Deputy District Attorney Haley Willming told jurors Fairbarn had “no good reason or excuse” to enter the enclosure or grab Peachy, that the bird was the subject of his “big joke,” and that expert testimony established the animal suffered pain when dragged and handled by the legs and neck. “That man was not drunk. He knew what he was doing,” Willming said in closing. The jury of eight women and six men deliberated roughly five hours before returning guilty verdicts on both counts—one tied to actions in the habitat and one in the hotel room.
Man who snatched Peachy the flamingo from Las Vegas hotel exhibit found guilty of animal cruelty - Los Angeles Times
Hotel security reported the bird missing after 5 a.m.; officers recovered Peachy with blood on its plumage and missing feathers. The Flamingo’s animal-care team and veterinarians treated the injuries; the bird has since been reported recovering under their care. Fairbarn’s friend, also heavily intoxicated that night, ended his evening differently by meeting a woman and getting married on Fremont Street.
Fairbarn left court with his wife after the verdict and declined comment. The case drew international attention because of the vivid video evidence and the contrast between the defense’s “stupid prank” framing and the documented injuries to a longtime resident of the resort’s famous wildlife habitat.
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