A woman is fighting to get back her beloved pet "Gizmo."
A western Pennsylvania woman is suing the state Game Commission for seizing her 26-year-old pet parakeet in March.
But game officials say Faith Good's pet, Gizmo, is banned under a state law meant to protect the environment.
Commission spokesman Travis Lau tells the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that Monk parakeets like one owned by the Youngwood woman can tolerate Pennsylvania's colder temperatures and are known to proliferate if they can mate in the wild. The birds, which are native to South America, build nests up to 10 feet wide that damage the habitat of other birds.
Good, 63, sued the Game Commission in Westmoreland County Court seeking the return of the bird she bought for $600 in January 1987.
“I haven't even touched his cage since the day he left,” Good told the paper. “I don't have the heart to take that newspaper out of the cage.”
Her attorney, Anthony Rosner, doubts the bird could wreck the state's ecosystem saying, "It's only one bird, so it can't mate."
