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Suffolk County SPCA officials have offered a $2,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest of a person who abandoned a cage filled with birds at approximately 12:15 p.m. on Saturday, March 20 in the woods off exit 40 near Route 110 in Melville.
Suffolk County SPCA Chief Roy Gross said that an animal rescuer was driving east on the parkway when he saw a man in a silver SUV, possibly a Nissan Pathfinder, walking from his car into the woods with a cage in his hand.
Gross said that when other rescuers arrived, they found a small white birdcage with the top off as well as a large bottom part to a big cage with bird food on it and pieces of a cage dismantled on the ground.
The rescuers reported hearing parrots and possibly love birds "screaming" in distress and saw several flying in the trees in the immediate area, Gross said. One flew close enough to a rescuer who was able to reach out for it and put it back inside the cage.
Additional rescuers arrived with cages and nets to assist for the next two hours. In total, four birds were rescued and safely put back in the cage. One bird was struck and killed by a car on the parkway.
Rescuers returned to the site the following day on Sunday, March 21, but no other birds were found, nor was the food in the cage touched.
Gross noted that “animal cruelty will not be tolerated in Suffolk County.” Abandoning animals is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year imprisonment and/or a fine of up to $1,000.
Anyone who has information about who may have dumped the birds has been asked to contact the Suffolk County SPCA by calling (631) 382-7722.
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