TAMPA, Fla. – With a legal battle underway, a Florida man has had no choice but to spend every day and every night at his bird sanctuary with only a couple hundred parrots to keep him company.
The Tampa Bay Times reports that Majid “Magic” Esmaeili from Zaksee Florida Bird Sanctuary recently contacted the newspaper about his predicament.
Esmaeili’s five-acre sanctuary is surrounded on all sides by other people’s property, leaving him with no way to get in and out.
According to the report, Esmaeili used to have an agreement with neighbor Lynda Fowler that allowed him and others visiting the sanctuary -- including volunteers who help care for the birds -- to use a path through her property that led to a public road.
Fowler told the newspaper she was “over” Esmaeili acting like a “madman” and scaring customers away from her horseback riding ranch.
Because of that, she put up two locked gates and decided to take Esmaeili to court.
While a judge initially ruled in Fowler’s favor, the case is currently in appeal and a stay has been granted to require Fowler to open the gate and allow Esmaeili to use the path until the appeal is decided.
That should happen in a few days but in the meantime, Esmaeili said he’s been struggling to feed himself and his 200 parrots and described himself in an email to the Times as a “prisoner in (his) own property.”
To read the full story, go to TampaBay.com.