Colo. woman's parrots killed

• Tweet

BRIGHTON, Colo., Aug. 27 (UPI) -- A Colorado woman said her five rare parrots were killed, three by decapitation.

ABC News reported Monday Cherie Morales, a retired New York City police officer, returned home to find the door to her 12-foot-by-16-foot aviary open. Inside was a grisly scene: three of her rare greater vasa parrots had their heads ripped off and two others also killed, the report said.

Two surviving greater vasas escaped and one returned. Two African gray parrots remained in the aviary unharmed.

Morales said she thinks someone deliberately targeted the greater vasas because it was well known they were her favorites.

"The three birds who were the sweetest of all of them had their heads ripped off from the neck," she said. "Their wings were pulled off. These birds had been brutalized past that."

Morales, an animal lover, was devastated.

"These birds are so easy, so trusting," Morales said. "I have always prided my house on being a sanctuary for whatever person or critter need to come in."

A $1,000 reward is being offered for information leading to an arrest by the Adams County Sheriff's Department.