Woman's Lawsuit claims Company's Product
Led to the Death of her Parrot

JERRY BIER / Fresno Bee 1apr03

Squawk over Squigmund

Squigmund was a pretty bright guy. He was known for his vocabulary, his singing ability and he was always a bit of a flirt toward women.

At one time, Squigmund was the star of a show in Las Vegas.

Not bad, for a parrot.

Squigmund, who could sing, died at the age of 20, birds.
MODESTO BEE

But Squigmund died in the prime of his life, felled, his owner says, by a product used to protect her newly purchased couch.

Diana Sehnal of Merced filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Fresno for the loss of her Mexican Redhead Parrot.

Sehnal's complaint, which seeks a minimum of $250,000, accuses Hansen's Furniture Store of Winton and Stainsafe Inc., of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., of product liability and wrongful death in the loss of her longtime pet.

Randy Hansen, the owner of the store who is also named as a defendant, said "I don't have any comment" when asked about the lawsuit. A lawyer for Stainsafe also declined comment, saying he had not seen a copy of the complaint.

(Photo not included):
Merced's Diana Sehnal holds a photo of Squigmund, her pet parrot of 16 years who died after Sehnal used a product to protect her new couch. Sehnal has sued Hansen's Furniture Store and Stainsafe Inc., for $250,000 after being told, she says, that the fumes from the couch product were harmless to birds. Sehnal said Squigmund's death has been "devastating." Photo: Debbie Noda Modesto Bee

Squigmund's death was "devastating," Sehnal said in an interview. "I still mourn him every day."

She had owned the 20-year-old parrot for 16 years, Sehnal said, and he was "just fantastic, he was my company, my 'little guy."'

Mexican Redhead Parrots, also known as a Green Cheek Amazon, have normal life spans of 60 to 100 years, Sehnal said, so Squigmund was still a young bird. At one time, before she owned him, Squigmund headlined a bird show in Las Vegas, Sehnal said.

"He could sing '1 Left My Heart in San Francisco,' he could count, he could distinguish a few colors," she said.

The lawsuit, filed by lawyer Christine L. Garcia of The Animal Law Office in San Francisco, said Sehnal asked several times at the furniture store about the safety of the product used to protect her couch and was told it was "completely harmless to birds."

Garcia said that the parrot became violently ill shortly after the couch was delivered to Sehnal's home in early April of last year and "had trouble breathing and had diarrhea."

The bird died a few hours after arrival at a veterinarian's office, according to the lawsuit. A necropsy performed by a veterinarian and pathologist concluded the "lungs appeared hemorrhagic" along with other problems "consistent with inhalation toxicity."

Sehnal said she hopes that her lawsuit will result in warning labels being placed on products that are potentially harmful to animals, and she wants to set up a foundation in Squigmund's name to help achieve that goal.

The reporter can be reached at jbier@fresnobee.com or 441-6484.