Dispute over noisy cockatoo comes to a conclusion in Warwick

Kathy Melker says that she just couldn't take the noise and harassment from her neighbor's cockatoo, Willy, so she called police and made a complaint.

But Melker didn't expect that her complaint would be such a big deal.

“I made the complaint because I was being absolutely barraged.” said Melker.

Melker believes the cockatoo was taught by her neighbor Lynne Taylor to harass and even swear at her, all because Melker now lives with Taylor's ex-husband Craig Fontaine.

It's a charge that Lynne Taylor's lawyer denies.

“Absolutely not never did. Mr. Fontaine testified that he taught it to say knock it off,
that's what the bird said.”said Taylor's attorney, Steve Pelletier.

Melker called police and made a formal complaint against Taylor and her cockatoo, Willy, saying that the bird was violating Warwick's animal noise ordinance.

That's how they ended up in Warwick Municipal Court, with Taylor trying to fight the violation.

In the end, the judge said it didn't matter what the bird said, and agreed that Willy was making too much noise,
too often.

“Everybody seems to want to focus on what the bird was saying, but it's not what the bird says,
it's the noise.” said judge Joel Gerstenblatt.

Even though she won the complaint Kathy Melker isn't happy with how things happened.

“This is a deplorable waste of taxpayer money, I've never seen such a farce in all my life,
all over a 15-dollar fine, 15-dollar.” said Melker.

Lynne Taylor does have the ability to challenge the ruling in superior court if she wants, in total she'll have to pay a 15-dollar fine and an additional 35-dollars in court costs.