Guest Post by Daniel Sigmon of Hearing Notes for Day 1 of the Gracia Hearing:
Greetings
Folks,
I was at the trial until almost the end of testimony yesterday, Friday, July
23. We left after a brief recess just before 6:00 PM. The vet that
was testifying for HSPCA would be unable to return so examination and
cross-examination had to be completed that day.
The vet, I'm sorry I can't remember her name, works for the Gulf-Coast exotics
clinic or something like that. She was very professional and answered her
questions thoughtfully and honestly, without the appearance of a real agenda.
During the prosecutions examination which was about 3 hours long, they showed pictures of birds in cages
and water bowls with food in them and dirty water and such.
They also went through a large stack of vet reports that dealt with sick and
dead animals. approximately 15 or maybe 20. Many of the injuries
that were discussed in the birds were head traumas.
The
defense lawyer was very good about objecting when the prosecution tried to lead
the vet into saying something that would support the prosecutions case when she
hadn't elucidated that. The judge actually sustained most of his
suggestions.
The Defense
began an excellent cross examination in which he punched some pretty good holes
in the prosecutions case, by making sure that the vet admitted to other
possibilities for the injuries, including the handling that they recieved by
HSPCA. At one point he held up a picture of two blue and gold macaws that were being transported
together in a tiny travel cage and asked the vet if this was a proper way to
house macaws. The vet tried to wiggle around that saying that many of her
clients transported their birds in that way. The defense then countered
with, "How long is an appropriate time for birds like this to be housed
together?" She said no more than a few hours.
Early on he took on the SPCA for their in consistency with the seizure, stating
that the HSPCA had received a warrant to seize all of the animals yet they left
the hoof stock and non valuable fowl alone. The prosecutions position was
because these animals were in no immediate danger. The defense then
cornered them pretty well with asking about the condition of the Macaws, to
which the vet said that they were in good health and housed
appropriately. The defense tried to object but the judge over-ruled
them. During the entire cross for which I was present the spca officials
looked very nervous, as if they might be close to having their hands caught in
the cookie jar.
There was much made during the prosecution examination over diet and feeding
all seed diet. The defense asked if there was anyway to really know what
the birds were being fed from the pictures of the cages. The vet
maintained during the prosecution examination, that pellets had to be part of
the diet to be feeding the birds properly. The defense also got her to
back down on that one as well.
Clean water was discussed by the defense and he actually got the vet to say
that it was healthy to change water twice a day. He asked how long it
would take a bowl to look like the ones in the photos, she said not very
long. So he managed to punch some really good holes in that part of the
case as well. Also getting her to admit that seeds were sometimes coated
with vitamin powder that affected the water color.
There was one moment when the defense talked about the injuries and showed
photos of the birds in their flight on the day of the seizure. Then he
showed the necropsy photos of some of the birds that were dated a week
later. He asked she saw those injuries on the birds in the first
picture. She said no. So he asked her if it were possible that the
injuries could have been sustain after the seizure either by the capture or
housing of HSPCA. She said, "Yes". He also asked her if
cause of death to a bird could have by way of heat exhaustion during the
capture. She said, "Yes."
He asked her if it was cruel to leave a bird trapped in a box in the houston heat for several
hours (referencing the bird that HSPCA left behind). She said,
"Yes."
He asked if feather plucking behaviors could be caused by mating pairs either
preparing their nests or being stressed from being seperated from their
eggs. She said, "Yes". He told the court at this time how
the HSPCA had left 9 eggs.
He also asked if it could be harmful for the birds to be handled they way that
they were by the HSPCA. The vet said, "Yes."
All in all the defense did a pretty good job of holding its own. The
prosecution looked pretty nervous during the cross. I don't if that means
good things for us or not.
It was nice to see those, smug HSPCA investigator bastards sweat a little
durring the cross.
This is a little rambling and off the cuff, but I hope that helps.
Best of luck to all concerned.
See you all at AFA, come see my presentation, "Naturalized Quaker Parrots, the
Carolina Conure,
and Reconciliation Ecology." [http://www.afabirds.org/2010_Convention/]
Best,
Danny Sigmon
My thanks to Danny for permission to post these notes!