Blue and gold macawA dead parrot named Freddy is the focus of a US lawsuit after his ex-con owner claimed prison guards denied him a phone call that would have saved the bird's life.
Thomas Goodrich is seeking a total of $500,000 (£347,000) in punitive damages from the Delaware Department of Correction Commissioner and a warden at the correctional institution where he was held for 12 days over an outstanding arrest warrant and an expired driving licence.
The 48-year-old claimed he was denied any contact with the outside world, meaning he was unable to contact a friend to feed Freddie, a £15,000 gold and blue macaw which had been his beloved pet for 20 years.
Mr Goodrich said when he was finally released on December 19, he found Freddy dead. Two other parrots, both Amazons, survived. "They apparently had enough food in their cages," he said.
In court papers submitted to the local federal court, Mr Goodrich said he was given a code number to operate a prison phone that did not work, and he was told he would have to wait eight days for a replacement number.
He alleges that prison officials lacked compassion and acted "irresponsibly" when such "animal cruelty was taking place".
Although the case has all the comedy value of the Monty Python Dead Parrot sketch, US legal experts insist it raises the serious issue of the rights of an accused to secure his or her freedom, most commonly through a phone call.
One, criminal defence attorney Joe Hurley, said that inmates sent to Young prison tended to go missing for days while staff processed the paperwork created by their arrival. "That is the way it is," he said, adding that Mr Goodrich was lucky his situation involved a parrot "and not his child".
Martin Mersereau, from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, said that if true, the situation was "absolutely appalling" and "horrific", and that prison officials should be held accountable.