An Atlanta-based woman, who goes by the nom de plume Bella Escritor, is penning a tell-all book about her decade-long romance with the 33-year-old Philadelphia Eagles star, who served 19 months in jail for owning and operating an illegal ring.
Now, in an exclusive excerpt of the book, Escritor revealed how Vick, 33, simply forgot to move his pet bird, named Junior, from one home to another — he later discovered the exotic breed, dead, at the bottom of its cage.
He “had treated Junior like he was just another piece of furniture that they could just set aside and move at a later date,” the woman wrote in the tell-all, titled Quarterback Keeper.
In a second incident, Escritor alleged Vick recklessly starved his pet cockatoo, named Crystal, for more than a week while he traveled interstate.
“She [Crystal] was making this awful sound like her throat was on fire,” she recounted in a chapter of the expose provided to Radar.
“Mike noticed the sound as well and couldn’t figure out what was wrong with her. I then decided to open her cage and get a closer look at her to make sure she wasn’t hurt.
“When I placed Crystal on my arm, I noticed that her food and water bowls were empty. I then immediately got her some water and asked Mike when was the last time she had anything to eat or drink. He said he had no idea and that he hadn’t fed her since he left town over a week ago.
“I then left and went to Walgreens to get her some food. I decided then that I needed to keep an even closer eye on Crystal from now on because she was not going to die on my watch.”
Eventually, as it emerged he was facing jail time for dogfighting, Vick gave Crystal to Escritor.
The woman also provided Radar with a jailhouse letter from Vick addressed to her, postmarked Leavenworth, a federal prison in Kansas, from inmate No. 33765-183 — Vick’s identification — in which the disgraced athlete talked about wanting to reclaim ownership of the cockatoo when he was released.
“I’m coming to get the bird back when I get home,” he wrote.
“You seem like you taking good care of her. You better. That bird cost me $2300.”
When he was sprung from behind bars in May, 2009, to home confinement in Virginia, Escritor said she flew Crystal to see Vick but “once he witness how close we had become,” the footballer allowed her to keep the cockatoo.
