Corpus Christy, Texas-A family is asserting that they purchased a sick bird from the PetSmart store in Texas, and that the bird caused one daughter to go into a coma, and the death of the father.
The De La Garza family maintain that they purchased a pet Cockatiel bird that was infected by psittacosis, also known commonly as parrot disease.
The family says that they purchased a pet Cockatiel from PetsSmart in September of 2006, and that shortly after that the father, Joe De La Garza died.
The daughter Amanda fell ill also and went into the hospital in a deep coma.
Amanda eventually recovered after several weeks, and is now doing fine again.
The family is suing PetSmart to keep them from selling other birds that may be sick.
“We want to keep them from selling birds that might kill their customers,” Amanda De La Garza told the local television media station in an interview about the lawsuit.
The lawsuit was filed in Texas in Nueces County District Court and was filed by the family on Tuesday.
There has been no comment from sources at PetSmart about the pending lawsuit, and the court case continues at this time.