Dead parrots cost balloonist £63,000

A hot air balloonist has been ordered to pay £63,000 in compensation to a bird collector after scaring three rare parrots to death during a balloon race.

 

A court in the Dutch province of North Brabant heard that the balloonist had fired his main burner at a distance of only 160ft from the birds' cage, and the noise from the blast caused such a fright to the parrots that they died of stress.

 

The balloonist said in his defence that he had to fire the burner to stay airborne during the race, which took place in March 2017, but those claims did not convince the Netherlands court at the end of a three-and-a-half-year legal battle.

 

A hearing in 2018 had established that the parrots, a €40,000 pair of hyacinth macaws and a yellow-naped amazon worth €1,250, had died from shock. The court concluded that it was not possible to conclude which balloon was responsible for their demise.

 

However evidence presented to the court proved that a ballooning company from the nearby town of Schijndel, in the south of the Netherlands, that had come closest by far to the birds' cage.

 

Organisers of balloon races typically mark maps for the balloonists pointing out places where animals are and local broadcaster, Omroep Brabant, said, " the location of the parrots was most likely marked on the map."

 

A balloonist who was not involved in the incident, Bram van Loosbroek, said, "That is where things went wrong. Balloonists are never reckless. It's our job and we have to make sure we can continue to do it. And we can only do that if we take the presence of animals on the ground into account".

 

The court ordered the accused balloonist to pay the bird collector and his son a total of €68,000 (£63,000) compensation for the dead parrots. That was inclusive of €14,000 for the sale of any young the deceased parrots may have produced.

 

 

London Solicitors