Be Careful Out There

Magic Chef is having a few design problems which result in killing birds.

ORIGINAL MESSAGE:
I got a call from a friend a few days ago, asking for help. Another friend of hers, Cindy, had three birds, a Moluccan cockatoo, a Noble macaw, and a cockatiel. On Sunday night the Moluccan suddenly dropped dead, of no apparent cause. He was playing and acting normal, and dead 20 minutes later. Monday morning the Noble macaw was found dead when his cage was uncovered. The cockatiel was fine.
Cindy was out of town, and her husband called her to tell her what had happened. Cindy called my friend, who in turn called several other people to pick our brains. The first theory was something in the air. But
none of the usual suspects was present--no candles or perfumes, no household cleaners, no overheated Teflon, no neighbors spraying chemicals. The next theory was either something in the water, or bad food, both of which would require testing.

On Tuesday morning I e-mailed my friend suggesting that they get the cockatiel out of the house until they could figure this out. Tuesday afternoon I received the following e-mail from her: "I called Cindy this morning to tell her what you said about getting Viva out of the house but they lost her last night. But they think they know the source. Steve bought Cindy a magic chef convection microwave for Christmas. They had used the microwave but not the convection feature very often. Sunday night Steve BBQ'd but it got dark before he finished cooking so he brought the chicken in and put it into the oven. When it started smoking he pulled it out and opened the windows. (Now, I set off the smoke alarm half the time i make popcorn, so this was obviously not ordinary smoke, but they didn't know that at the time). Viva's (cockatiel) cage was higher up than Kermit's so it didn't affect her. Yesterday afternoon Steve tore down
Kermit (the Noble) cage and put Viva's cage on that stand. Last night after Steve left for work Preston (their son) started to heat a burrito in the microwave and it started smoking. He freaked out and called Cindy. she said to grab Viva and Phoebe (the dog) and go to the neighbors, but before he hung up the phone Viva dropped dead. Needless to say the microwave is now outside the house. but she is going to
pursue it with the company, and Phoebe has an appointment at the vets tonight.

Oven info:
Magic Chef Convection microwave, Model # MCC1010T, s/n 30903915, FCC #C5F7NF92M01000. Manufactured Sept. 2003, bought new in Dec. 2003

Steve and Cindy lost all three of their beloved pets to this tragedy. Viva the cockatiel was 15 years old. The microwave was 6 months old when it malfunctioned. There is something in this microwave that produces toxic fumes that are fatal to parrots when it malfunctions. The humans didn't smell anything unusual, but it killed three birds in a very short time.

If you know someone who owns birds and has one of these ovens, warn them that it could kill their birds too. Please feel free to pass this to other lists.
- posted by J-Birds @ 8:06 PM |