A Hong Kong woman who “jokingly” photographed her parrot in a microwave has been digitally tarred and feathered after animal-loving netizens caught wind of her bird-brained photo stunt.
At around 10pm on Monday, a Tung Chung resident surnamed Lai posted a picture on Facebook showing her pet parrot Oscar inside a lit microwave with the dial turned up to nine. The photo was accompanied by the caption “Extra dish, roasted pigeon”.
Lai’s post immediately attracted the fury of local netizens, who accused her of abusing the bird. About an hour later, Lai shared a post apologizing for the “joke” and said Oscar was “safe and unharmed”, before going live to show people that Oscar was inside his cage.
In the livestream, Lai said, “My friend had previously put baby birds in the microwave and called it ‘roasting quail’, so I thought, why not try putting [Oscar] in the microwave? I put him inside and shut the door… not fully, but the light came on… I thought he seemed bored over the last few days and he hasn’t had much of an appetite, so I wanted to play with him.”
But her apology wasn’t accepted by netizens, who said she was making up excuses, with one commenting, “Have you ever seen a microwave light turn on when the door isn’t fully shut?”
At around 12:45, Lai announced that she was going to file a police report against the netizens for harassment, claiming that they had found her personal phone number and made threatening calls to her.
While she was giving an interview to Apple Daily yesterday, four CID officers and three SPCA staffers showed up at Lai’s door and asked to take Oscar away for a check-up. Despite initially refusing to comply with the authorities, Lai eventually allowed SPCA staff to take Oscar away to be examined.
She then went to the North Lantau Police Station for questioning and is being investigated for suspected animal cruelty. So far, no arrests have been made. SPCA workers on the scene told the Apple Daily reporter that Oscar appeared to be bright and in good health.
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