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OAP Sick From COVID Gets 3K Bill From Animal Shelter

A 75-year-old woman who battled in hospital with Covid returned home to see that she had been billed EUR 3,253 by an animal shelter that took in her pets after she got sick.

The incident took place in Reutlingen, which is a city in the south-western German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg.

The woman has been named as Monika Simon, 75, collapsed in her apartment in October 2021 before being taken to hospital.

Blue-fronted Amazon Jako (49) one of the pets of Monika Simon (75) for which she had to pay a huge bill in the Reutlingen Animal Shelter in Germany. (Tierheim Reutlingen/Newsflash)

She left her parrot Dodo, who is about 45 years old, a blue-fronted Amazon parrot called Jako, who is 49, and a cockatoo called Koko, 31, as well as two cats, who have not been named.

A neighbour reportedly called the police, who in turn informed the animal shelter.

Monika then received a letter saying that as soon as she was “released from the clinic”, she could request to have her animals back.

African gray parrot one of the pets of Monika Simon (75) for which she had to pay a huge bill in the Reutlingen Animal Shelter in Germany. (Tierheim Reutlingen/Newsflash)

After 32 days in the hospital, she then received a bill from the shelter for EUR 3,253 (GBP 2,720), which included a EUR-20 (GBP-16.75) fee per day per bird.

She said: “I didn’t know that it would be so expensive. With my pension of EUR 1,500 (GBP 1,255) a month, I can’t pay that.”

And on top of it all, she apparently cannot get her birds back after one of them was found dead in her apartment. But Monkia said that the animal had been sick for a long time and had not died from neglect.

White-crested Cockatoo one of the pets of Monika Simon (75) for which she had to pay a huge bill in the Reutlingen Animal Shelter in Germany. (Tierheim Reutlingen/Newsflash)

The woman, who has owned Koko for some 30 years, says that she is unable to pay the bill.

The animal shelter reportedly declined to comment on the situation and a recommendation from the local veterinary office is currently still pending.

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