Local, wild parrots are being targeted and killed in Southern California

Images in this story and above video may be considered disturbing

Rumors are aplenty, and nobody knows the real reason why, but Los Angeles and its surrounding areas have been fortunate to be populated with beautiful, “model citizen” parrots for decades.

But as of late, in a disturbing trend, many of these birds in the San Gabriel Valley are being found by residents with severe wounds, or even dead.

Cleo Watts, founder of non profit animal rehabilitation center Cleo’s Critter Care in Pasadena, says she’s received several calls reporting severe injuries or deaths to the friendly creatures in the area.

“I’ve been getting a lot of phone calls for birds being shot down,” Watts told KTLA’s Jennifer McGraw. “It’s very upsetting to know that somebody would do this to these animals.”

Watts admits that the colorful birds are a controversial topic in Pasadena, Altadena and the rest of the San Gabriel Valley. They can be loud and somewhat obnoxious, she said, leading to some wishing the birds weren’t populating the area.

“We have leaf blowers, we have people with loud [car] exhausts, crying babies, barking dogs,” she said. “We don’t go shooting them. So why these guys?”

The suspected targeting of these birds isn’t the first time it’s happened in the L.A. area — it happened just last year in Temple City, when someone placed nets into trees, resulting in the death of some birds.

This time around, Watts said it appears that someone is “shooting” the birds with some kind of weapon. As many as 11 parrots have been killed or severely injured in recent weeks.

The surviving, injured birds have been placed into Watts’ care. She’s taken some to specialists, where they can receive intensive care as needed.

One parrot brought into her care was missing half of a wing, according to Watts.

Anyone with information as to a suspect in these crimes are encouraged to call police. Anyone that finds an injured bird is encouraged to reach out to Watts at cleoscrittercareca@gmail.com.